Rahul Dravid IND

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Cheteshwar Pujara

Cricket is a big game in India and has a huge following and therefore it’s understandable that both the electronic and print media are under pressure to keep the players in the spotlight and have some story or the other for the followers who don't seem to get enough of their favourite players. They want to know more, something that they don’t know as yet. Last week when India and Australia were playing the third Test in Ranchi after the acrimony of the second Test, sparks were bound to fly and they did. The verbals on the field got highlighted as much if not more than what the players had done on the field. Both sides hurled accusations at each other and for the media this was manna from heaven. Sure enough in the days after the Test was drawn there had to be news about this being said and that being done. India - Australia matches have been keen contests for the last three or four decades but to suggest that it all started in 1981 when I was given out leg before wicket and therefore wanted to walk off is simply sloppy and shoddy reporting for if the journalist had taken the trouble to see the video of the incident he would have seen that I did not walk off because of the decision but I asked my partner to walk off only when I was abused as I was leaving the pitch. It was not the first time I had been given out wrongly neither the last time but it certainly was the first time I had been abused and that too while I was leaving the pitch.

Unfortunately hurling verbals at opponents has come to be seen as being macho and with the ICC not coming down heavily on such boorish behaviour the practice has now permeated into junior cricket where the youngsters seeing the seniors doing it and getting away with it, think that it is part of the game.

Interestingly after my retirement when I happened to be in Australia to cover the India tour I asked the late Sir Don Bradman what he thought of this practice that was burgeoning in the game and if it happened during his time. His answer was that ‘no it never happened during his time and if any of his players ever did it he would have warned him after the first offence and if he repeated it then he would never play for Australia at least till he (Sir Don) was the captain’ so all those who say that this has been going on ever since cricket began are talking rubbish.

Not just Sir Don, but the greatest ever, Sir Garfield Sobers also said that there was hardly any chat during the time that he played. The simple fact of the matter is that great players don’t need to speak with the mouths, they do with their deeds with bat and ball. It’s only the sideys who in order to hide their deficiencies and inadequacy who open their mouths.

Cheteshwar Pujara is one who has always let the bat do the talking and his brilliant double ton that shored the Indian innings after they had lost 4 wickets for not too many is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Dean Elgar

The break between the second and third test was utilised well by the administrators of India and Australia to bring the focus back on the game rather than on an incident that was apologised for by the Australian skipper and dealt with by the ICC. Whether one agreed with that decision or not, it was good to see good sense prevail and the attention back on the game. All those who have played the game in India are aware that the gap between matches are the ones which are to watch out for. With not much cricketing action to report on, the demands of circulation figures and ratings on TV mean that many an imaginary story does the rounds and sometimes can overtake itself and go beyond what it was originally intended for.

The focus back on the game meant that the test matches in New Zealand and in Sri Lanka got the attention it deserved. The one day series between New Zealand and South Africa was a close thing and though the Proteas won it with an easy win in the fifth and final game it had set the test series up nicely. New Zealand being familiar with home conditions have the sags a bit of a scare but the match had a tame ending with rains washing out the last day’s play. There was still enough cricket played with Dean Elgar almost getting a century in each innings. He was dismissed for 89 in the second innings after getting a hundred in the first innings where the ball was doing all kinds of things. For the home team skipper Kane Williamson batted beautifully against a demanding South African attack to get a classy hundred.

In Sri Lanka the Bangladesh team found like earlier teams touring Sri Lanka that Rangana Hearth is a destructive bowler. His easy action allows him to bowl long spells and his unflappable temperament means that nothing fazes him. Kusal Mendis who must have been disappointed at his batting in South Africa, came back to form scoring a scintillating century that gave Sri Lanka enough rubs to keep catching fielders around the bat all the time. Sri Lanka won the test with ease and so Bangladesh will have to lift themselves up for the next test which is their 100th test match.

Dean Elgar for his batting on a difficult pitch against New Zealand is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Nathan Lyon

A truly wonderful Test match with daily ups and downs and testing the technique and temperament of the players has been put in the shade by the controversy about the Australian skipper Steve Smith’s gesture towards the dressing room asking for their help in deciding whether to ask for the decision against him to be reviewed or not. It was clearly against the rules and the spirit of the game and though he later admitted that it was brain fade it actually should have been a no brainer for him to review the decision. He is by far the best batsman in this Australian team and his is the wicket that the Indians are looking for especially after that wonderful century he got in the first Test in Pune.Therefore even if he was bang in front of the stumps he should have gone for a review straightaway. The reason why it’s snowballed into controversy is because a newcomer to Test cricket Handscomb suggested to Smith that he should check with the dressing room. In doing so Handscomb pretty much admitted that there is some sort of a signal system that the Australians have whether to go for a decision review or not. They will deny it of course but why else would a newcomer even suggest to his more experienced skipper to do so.

Be that as it may, the series is now on the boil and it would be prudent for the ICC to have the chief match refereeRanjan Madugalle come in for the remaining two Test matches just as he did in 2008 after the flare up in the SydneyTest match. The Indians clearly will not have much faith in Chris Broad after the Bangalore incident was swept under the carpet and no action taken against the offender.

The injury to Nathan Lyon’s spinning finger certainly hampered him in the second innings of the Test match but he had given a display of beautiful off-spin in the first innings when he got 8 wickets. He seemed to have learnt from the first Test in Pune and you could see the change in his line and the speeds that he bowled at in the Bangalore test. As with every Australian bowler he has a lovely easy action and even on hard Australian pitches he can get the ball to grip and turn because of the position of the seam when the ball lands.

Ashwin looked under a bit of pressure to repeat Lyon’s feat and seemed to rush his bowling in the first innings but he was his old self in the second and reaped a rich haul of wickets to spin India to a win. This is probably the first time where 4 different bowlers have picked up six or more wickets in an innings of a Test match.

Nathan Lyon for his splendid off spin bowling that got him 8 Indian wickets is the CEAT International Cricketer of theWeek.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Steve O’Keefe

Australia’s crushing win over India has certainly upset the applecart and India have to go collecting all those apples and put them back in the cart and then ensure that it’s not turned over again. That will require tremendous strength of character and way more determination and application than was shown in Pune. Winning and losing are part of the game and there is no guarantee that the best player always wins. Even the best can have off days and India the number one Test team, definitely had three off days in Pune.

However nothing can be taken away from the Australians who displayed far more gumption and desire to stick it out than the Indians did. Maybe the Indians were lulled into that by the clever statement made by Steve Smith on arrival in India that his team were the underdogs. The one thing that cricket history has shown is that no Australian team, however weak it may look on paper, gives up without a fight. Steve Smith led by example in scoring one of the great Test centuries and when he hangs his boots up and reflects on his career the century in Pune will be right up there in his mental rankings. His judgement of which ball to play and which to leave was uncanny and while luck was on his side, on a pitch like at Pune you do need a lot of luck. What about the Indian fielding effort? Time and again their close-in fielders have let them down and while the best of fielders do drop catches it is the stubbornness not to change their fielding stance which is the major reason why they keep dropping catches. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane every other close-in fielder stands with a stiff back so he is unable to get down in time to catch the balls coming towards and below the ankles. The fielding coach can give hundreds of catches before the day’s play begins but till the fielders start to crouch low they are going to drop more than they catch.

The other Steve, O’Keefe had a memorable game snaring a dozen wickets in the Pune Test and silencing all those who doubted his talent and place in the team. Sure the pitch turned a lot but it was also the same pitch where his more experienced and celebrated spin partner Nathan Lyon could get only 5 wickets in the Test match. Clearly he bowled better than all the spinners seen in the game and richly deserved his haul and man of the match award. He may not get such a rich bag of wickets again in the series but nobody can take away the fact that he bowled Australia to a comprehensive win in Pune.

In New Zealand the one-day series is going right down to the wire with both teams level and one game to play. The Kiwis stopped the South African one- day juggernaut with some terrific batting first from Ross Taylor and then from Martin Guptill who scored a magnificent 180 to take his team over the line. The fifth and final game should be a thriller indeed.

Steve O’Keefe for his magnificent bowling in the Pune Test match is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ross Taylor

Nobody even in their wildest dreams would have expected what happened in the Pune test match. The pitch was surprisingly bereft of grass and was so dry that before a ball was bowled it appeared as if it had been played on for a few days. No wonder nobody was able to settle down and get the big runs that were seen in the earlier test matches played in India. India know that they will have to lift their game several notches in the remaining three test matches. Hopefully the pitches there will be more like what was seen in the series against England where both teams scored over 400 runs in the first innings in all the tests and then India’s spinners in the second innings created problems for the English batsmen.

Just before the Australian series the auction of the players for the IPL took place and as always there were surprises at the amounts shelled out for some players. The IPL can turn the lives of those who get picked by franchises at astronomical fees and there are always some heart warming stories of strugglers making it big on auction day. The dynamics of the auction day are totally unpredictable so while known players get snubbed and don’t get bids there are some totally unknown names who get picked for sums that are simply mind blowing.

Of course it’s good luck to those who get picked for huge sums but surely some thought needs to be given to those who ply their trade in the domestic first class season and end up getting a fraction of what these unknowns get for the IPL. It is no surprise that these Ranji players feel like third class citizens even though they play a lot more days of domestic cricket than the IPL guys. One is not sure what the Ranji trophy players get but am reliably told that the fees haven’t changed for the last ten years or more. The players who play in all the league games and the knockout matches will end up getting around 20 lakhs for playing Ranji trophy. If the player is good enough to be picked for the Irani trophy and the Duleep trophy and the other limited overs domestic tournaments then he will get maybe another 10 lakhs more. So for playing in about 60 days or so of domestic cricket a player will get about 30 lakhs or so. Then when he sees a player who does not even play Ranji trophy get crores for a maximum of 17 days cricket in the IPL then he is bound to wonder why is it that he is even bothering to play domestic first class cricket. This needs to be looked at seriously by the administrators before the next cycle of ten years of the IPL starts next year. There should be a limit for an uncapped player of around 50 lakhs. A capped player can go for any amount but there has to be a limit for an uncapped player so that the Ranji trophy player does not feel like the poor cousins of Indian cricket and there is no point in playing domestic cricket.

Meanwhile New Zealand’s Ross Taylor stopped South Africa’s winning streak in limited overs cricket by cracking a fine century. That made him New Zealand’s highest century scorer in limited overs cricket and it also makes him the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

The Australians are here for what promises to be an exciting Test series. After beginning their domestic season with a defeat against the South Africans, the Aussies picked themselves quite nicely against the Pakistanis and beat them comprehensively in all three formats of the game. In doing so some of their players have come into ominous form and India would do well not to overlook that. Any relaxing and complacency would be disastrous against a team that never gives up and is at its most dangerous when down. Most of the Australians play in the IPL and so are more than familiar with all Indian grounds and the conditions that they are going to encounter in the next six weeks.

Unfortunately instead of this brilliant comeback by the Australians being in the news, the headlines were only about the sledging that they will supposedly be unleashing. Make no mistake, am not against banter where even the target of the jibe can see the funny side of the quip, but when it comes down to players squaring up angrily against each other it is totally unacceptable. Players have had taunts thrown at them for years but when it gets personal and abusive then it’s not funny at all and needs to be nipped in the bud as soon as it starts. In the heat of the moment and the desire to do well for one's country the tempers can run high but there is a line that should never be crossed. There are millions of young budding players who are watching on TV or at the ground and if they see their heroes indulge in bad behavior and getting away with it they will feel that it’s part of the game and do it themselves when they play. It’s important therefore for the players to understand that they are role models and heroes for millions of kids and try and curb their tempers.

Some players do get fired up by being angry but they lose the plot more often than not and end up playing badly and so do a disservice to themselves and their team. The biggest example of a player who has curbed his temper and started to play huge innings is Indian skipper Virat Kohli. He is now able to concentrate longer as he doesn't allow himself to get distracted and therefore the double hundreds are coming thick and fast. India will need him to bat as brilliantly against the Australians as he has been doing this season for India to put up big scores.

For his superb double ton against Bangladesh, Virat Kohli is the CEAT International cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Faf du Plessis

Virat Kohli continues his run spree and while his double hundred against Bangladesh will come up for ranking only next week there is no doubt that the Indian skipper is in the form of his life. The way he is moving into the shots, his balance at he crease, his hunger for big hundreds indicates that by the time he finishes playing the game, most batting records would be his. It is also his rate of scoring that is so good for that allows the team to pile on the runs quickly and gives his bowling unit that much more time in which to get the 20 opposition wickets.

There is another batsman in prime form and that is Faf du Plessis who missed scoring the highest individual score by a South African by a whisker. His 185 in 141 balls did however get south Africa to a big total and despite a brilliant counter attack by the Sri Lankan skipper Upul Tharanga, the Lankans fell short by 40 runs to lose the game. Tharanga got a one day hundred after a few years but when he gets going there are few better sights in cricket. His inconsistency has meant that he is in and out of the Lankan team but at least the Lankans have a batsman who knows how to power the ball away and maybe they should give him a few more opportunities than the ones they are giving to some others who are failing but still managing to stay in the squad. The Lankans will be disappointed at their performance in the one day internationals especially after they had done so well in the T20 Internationals to win that series.

The South Africans had rested their top players for the T20 internationals and paid the price with their defeat. The Australians too have found out that if they don't send a full strength team then they will be in trouble as the Kiwis beat them to win the Chappell Hadlee trophy. Ross Taylor got a hundred which meant that he had joined Nathan Astle at the top of the table with hundreds in one day internationals for New Zealand. Trent Boult then bowled superbly to capture 6 wickets for only 33 as the Aussies collapsed to lose the series and the trophy. New Zealand will now await the South Africans and with the Proteas being in red hot form that should be a series to savour for the Kiwis also have been playing some fine cricket.

The coming weeks therefore should be a feast for cricket lovers with the India v Australia four test match series and the New Zealand v South Africa matches in New Zealand.

The man the Kiwis need to watch out for Faf du Plessis for his massive one day century is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Faf du Plessis

The test series all over the cricketing world has taken a bit of a break as teams now try and finish the limited overs part of the tour schedules. India have won the limited overs as well as the T20 series against England thereby completing a clean sweep. The Lankans had beaten the South Africans last week in the T20 series sending a strong signal that teams that take the opposition lightly will have to pay for that. The Proteas learnt from that and did not trifle with the limited overs team and the results have been better than in the T20 series. Faf du Plessis has batted exceptionally well throughout the season and his good form continues as he scored runs in both the limited overs internationals to help the team win. David Miller too plundered runs scoring a quick-fire century, his fourth in one day internationals to get a big total for his team. The Lankans have struggled a bit and that's been disappointing as after the T20 wins it was expected that they would be far more confident.

The Australians lost a close game to their trans-tasman neighbours but it was made close by an astonishing knock by Marcus Stoinis who slammed 146 off just 117 balls to take the Australians near. It was not just the blazing innings but the situation that he came in to bat and the constant loss of wickets at the other end that made his knock such an outstanding one.

India have done outstandingly well in all forms of the game. Though Virat Kohli couldn't make his usual contribution with the bat in the T20 series the bowlers especially young Yuzvendra Chahal put their hands up and won the matches which looked like slipping out of their grasp. In T20 cricket a score of over 30 is as good as a fifty in the longer formats of the game and a bowler who takes two wickets has done very creditably. Chahal took 6 wickets in the third and final T20 game to spin England’s last 8 wickets for just 9 runs. It was incredible stuff but credit must also be given to Amit Mishra who had shown Chahal the way with his spell in which he had catches dropped. Luck can be cruel at times in sport and Mishra has not had the best of luck going his way in the season so far.

The seniors Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh showed that they still have plenty of firepower and can carry on for a few more years. Raina of course is much younger than the other two and after his batting in the final T20 game he will be on the radar of the selectors for the 50 overs variety also.

Faf du Plessis for his wonderful batting is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - David Warner

England’s performances in the last couple of games that they have played and won is perhaps an indication of the potential of this team. It also tells you how well the Indian team played in the first two one-day internationals to beat the visitors in the matches that went down to the wire. Even the third game was decided in the final over of the match. England are the runners-up in the T20 format and they showed just why with the comprehensive win over India in the first match of the T20 series. India need to get plenty right if they are to stay in the series and not lose it at Nagpur. The batsmen will have to play as long as they can instead of the cameos that were seen in Kanpur and more substantial partnerships are required too.

India, especially it’s support staff will also have kept one eye on the happenings in New Zealand where Bangladesh played a series recently and in Australia where the Pakistanis have had the rough end of the stick. That is because after the Englishmen go back it will be a one-off Test against Bangladesh and then a four Test series against the Australians. Bangladesh may have lost the Test series but their performances especially that of Shakib al Hasan was one that will give them plenty of hope when they come down to India and play in conditions similar to home. India will do well not to take them lightly else they could be in for a surprise like they were in the ICC World Twenty20 where the attempt at personal glory rather than a team win by Bangladesh batsmen allowed India to steal a win.

India definitely won’t take the Australians lightly despite all the noise coming from former Australian stars that their team has little chance in the four Test series in India. The Australians will fight till the last as always and if they get a foot in the door then they are capable of pushing it wide open.

David Warner will be the key and his form has been terrific especially in the on going Australian season where he seems to be reeling off hundreds at will. It’s not just the runs but the pace at which he gets them that makes him such a dangerous opponent. If he gets going in India then the Australians will get off to a flyer and the pressure will be on the home team.

In South Africa, Sri Lanka have dealt with the disrespect shown to them by the Proteas picking a second strength team in the only way any team should, by beating them and winning the T20 series. The Australians also play a T20 series at home against the Lankans next month while their main players including skipper Steve Smith, David Warner,

Mitchell Starc will be in India for the Test series. The Lankans will be wanting to do to the Aussies what they did to the Proteas and if skipper Angelo Matthews is fit then they will be even more stronger.

The point is that if the T20 internationals are going to be treated like this by some cricket Boards, then why play them at all and why not just stick to the franchise based events like IPL, Big Bash, Ram Slam, etc.

David Warner for his back to back centuries in the one-day series against Pakistan is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Shakib al Hasan

The clock was turned back as Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni dusted off the cobwebs and batted with a freedom that was the hallmark of their batting over the past so many years. For Yuvraj it’s a comeback to the Indian team while for Dhoni since he doesn't play Test matches any more it’s not easy to get the rhythm back straightaway. It was exhilarating to watch them take the England attack apart and in doing so they not only thrilled the vast multitude that had gathered at the Barabati stadium but also gave India those extra few runs that was the difference between winning and losing. England’s batting too lived up to its potential and the fact that they came so close tells you that this one-day team is one to be reckoned with. Morgan got a terrific hundred but just like at Pune where India had two big centurions and that made the difference England had batsmen who got out when a century would have most likely taken their team to an impossible win.

In New Zealand another sub-continent team lost despite scoring over 500 runs in one innings. Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim had a massive partnership of 359 and that helped the Bangladesh team get almost 600 runs. New Zealand replied in kind on a great pitch to bat on. The Bangladesh team collapsed in the second innings and then the Kiwi skipper scored a century at more than a run a ball and took his team to a win.

Earlier in Australia the Pakistan team had batted brilliantly in one innings of every Test they played but poorly in the other innings and thus ended losing all three test matches. It is something peculiar to the sub-continent teams especially overseas where somehow they are unable to bat well in both innings. That is why despite having world class players they have not been able to be consistent when competing away from home. Most recently even England got more than 400 runs in all the first innings that they played in India but batted badly in the second innings and lost four out of the five test matches they played.

Shakib al Hasan for his double century is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Matt Renshaw

England began its preparations for the one-day and T20 series with a mixed bag. They won the first practice game which was billed as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's last game as skipper and lost the second game. Amazingly the second game which Ajinkya Rahane captained the India a team hardly got any coverage which is so typically Indian where we tend to put one person on such a high pedestal that everybody else not only feels inferior but knows that whatever he/she achieves the failure of that other person high up is going to be highlighted more. Not that Dhoni failed for he showed that with the bat he is still a destructive batsman scoring 23 runs in the final over of the innings. However to ignore the second warm up game as if it was nothing is typical in India. What these two games showed is that India will be better off chasing than setting a target as the bowlers still haven't quite come to grips with bowling in the slog overs.

Cricketing teams like individual players go through a cycle of achievements. There are good to great periods when the individual or the team is doing well but as the wheel turns the performance starts to dip and the results are not as good as hoped for. There are of course rare occasions when a team or individual is doing so well that the peak performance patch is longer than the one where form dips and the deeds become lesser. These teams and individuals go down as great teams and players.

The Australians pretty much dominated world cricket since the mid 1990’s till 2005 when they first stumbled against their old foe England and lost the Ashes. They, as is their wont, struck back the following year when they swept through the Test series at home winning all five Test matches. After that they have seen a see saw kind of years as they have won at home but struggled overseas. This season having lost to the South Africans there were plenty of questions asked about the team. When uncomfortable questions get asked then a team or the individual need a bit of luck with the next opposition. That's exactly what happened as the Australians got to play Pakistan. Pakistan’s bowling has usually troubled the Australians but its batting has floundered and that's what transpired this time too as the Aussie bowlers bowled their team to wins despite the Pakistani batsmen offering resistance in one innings of every Test. It was the other innings where they collapsed that the Pakistanis met their doom in every Test losing all three test matches. Their bowlers also were unable to make much of an impact as David Warner in particular made merry hitting a century before lunch and then scoring the second fastest fifty in Test cricket. Warner was supported by Matt Renshaw who got a massive century, his first in Test cricket and Peter Handscomb also joined the party. For the Pakistanis Younis Khan scored a big hundred and in doing so became the first batsman to get centuries in 11 countries. This is a massive achievement and Younis, who has been a pretty underrated batsman, will hopefully finally get the recognition that he deserves as one of the greats of the game.

There will be pressure on him and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq to make way for younger players but as has been seen in Australia the younger ones still have a long way to go to be the kind of batsmen who can win or save a Test match for their team. Pakistan go to West Indies in a few months and in international cricket that is today an easier tour. Of course with the West Indies having beaten Pakistan in the last Test they clashed in the UAE last year, the Windies will be a lot more confident taking them on at home.

Matt Renshaw and Younis Khan for their big hundreds in the final Test of the series are the joint winners of the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Azhar Ali

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s stepping down as the captain of the Indian limited overs teams was not entirely unexpected. With the ICC World Cup just over 2 years away and Dhoni hitting the age of 38 there was every chance that he would have to make way for Virat Kohli. By quitting the captaincy, Dhoni in fact has given himself a better chance of being on the flight to England in 2019. Being wicketkeeper and captain is never easy as it can take a toll on the wicket keeping aspect of the game and as we have seen one mistake can cost a match. Dhoni can now focus entirely on his keeping without worrying too much about field placing or bowling changes and would be better off without that additional responsibility. His batting also would be even better as he will simply be fulfilling the role that Kohli assigns him be it at the top of the order or slightly lower where he can come in and smash everything in the final few overs. If anything, we will probably see more hundreds fromDhoni as he did early in his career before becoming the captain.

There could be more resignations in store as Pakistan will look to have a new skipper after their performances in the three Test match series. Misbah did well in England but on the Australia tour he has flopped badly and has not looked capable of playing the kind of innings that rescued Pakistan time and again in the past. He is remarkably fit for a 42 year old but with no major tours coming up for Pakistan they will look to blood someone new and give him time to settle down. Azhar Ali looks the best candidate with his fine performances in the series in Australia. The ageless Younis Khan has been magnificent but he also doesn't have much time left so Azhar Ali seems to be the best bet. He is the one-day skipper for Pakistan already so he knows that the expectations of the Pakistan supporters and with more experience should settle down in the job. What selectors are generally worried about is if the additional responsibility of leading the team can affect the speciality of the player be it batting or bowling and if that doesn't happen then the skipper can stay for a lengthy period. Too much chopping and changing is never good for any team and it also shows selectorial incompetence more than anything else and so the Pakistani selectors would be looking for a candidate who is going to be around for a long time.

In South Africa the hosts have demolished the Sri Lankans who have looked hapless as they struggled on the bouncy pitches in South Africa. Kagiso Rabada who made such an impressive debut in India has grown in strength as a fast bowler and with Kyle Abbott and Vernon Philander also joining the party they have swept theLankans aside quite comfortably. Quinton de Kock’s blistering batting also has taken the game away just when the big hearted Lankan bowers have got the team back in contention and after a pretty ordinary last year theProteas have bounced back in style.

In New Zealand the Kiwis have been ruthless against Bangladesh winning just about everything and with the momentum with them they should do well in the Test series to follow.

Azhar Ali for his superb batting is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Tom Latham

After India’s thrilling win in the final test of the series at Chennai, Australia and Pakistan also played a test match that went down to the wire. Pakistan's bold attempt to chase down 490 runs ended 40 runs short but what a spirited chase it was. That’s what test cricket is all about where fortunes keep changing day by day and sometimes session by session.

India’s win vindicated Virat Kohli's decision to delay the declaration to allow Karun Nair the rare chance of getting to a triple century. That only one Indian had got to the triple century mark should have made all the cynics realise that an achievement like that doesn’t happen every other day. Virender Sehwag has done it twice but then batsmen like Viru come once in a century and there won’t be another like him. Nair’s batting on the day was fantastic for the range of shots that he produced and in moving from 71 to 303 he got the most runs by an Indian batsman in day’s play.

Pakistan's second innings was held together by hundreds from Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq but despite their heroics they fell agonisingly short. The Australians as always fought right till the end and Starc produced an unplayable delivery to get Shafiq out as Pakistan inched closer to their target. It was a terrific test match.

There was no test cricket last week as teams took a breather and New Zealand played hosts to Bangladesh in a one day series. Bangladesh have come on very well especially in limited overs cricket and they have some attractive players but the kiwis proved a bit too strong for them. Bangladesh have the tendency to blow up when a victory is within sight as was seen in the ICC Twenty Twenty last year against India and they did that again after being in a good position chasing a modest New Zealand total and ended up losing the match and with it the series too.

For the Kiwis Tom Latham who impressed in India with his technique and temperament got a hundred as did newcomer Broom who hit 109 off 107 deliveries to give the Kiwis just the boost down the order that they needed. Colin Mumro also made a decent contribution. Shakib al Hasan tried his best but it wasn’t enough as the Kiwis romped home to win the series.

Tom Latham and Neil Broom for their hundreds are the joint winners of the accolade of the Ceat International Cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Karun Nair

Pakistan's wonderful fightback in the first Test at Brisbane was just the kind of advertisement that Test cricket needs. That match showed fortunes fluctuating wildly especially over the last two days as the Pakistanis didn't give up and almost pulled off what would have been Test cricket's most incredible win. Of course since England was not involved in that match it wouldn't have been called the 'greatest test match of all' since for anything to be called 'the greatest' something English has to be there. Be that as it may, what that match has done is to show test cricket in all its multi-colours and why it is the only format that tells you how good a cricketer really is. It is the only format where bowlers are actually trying to get twenty wickets unlike limited overs and T20 cricket where they are content to stop the flow of the runs in the quota of overs they have to bowl. If they get wickets then it is a bonus but the priority in limited overs and T20 cricket for the bowlers is simply not to give away runs. If Mitchell Starc had not bowled that fearsome bouncer that got the well set centurion Asad Shafiq fending a catch to gully, Pakistan could well have got to the target set for them. Shafiqs century was his 9th at the number 6 batting slot which is the most by any batsman batting in that position and with the evergreen Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan still going strong at numbers 4 and 5, Asad will have to wait a bit longer for his promotion up the batting order.

In Chennai England's collapse though not totally unexpected still came as a shock to England cricket supporters since at tea time they appeared to be in safe waters with Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes batting well and putting up a 50 plus partnership as well. As happens in cricket it needs just a lapse in concentration for a wicket to fall and the doors are open for the opposition to ram through. That is exactly what happened as Moeen Ali went for an unnecessary in the circumstances shot and Ashwin timed his jump to perfection to pull off a remarkable catch. Ravindra Jadeja spun the batsmen away to get his best figures in test cricket. He had before that given us one of the greatest catches seen in test cricket when he turned and ran back full tilt and then stretched his arms out full length to grasp the ball. He had also batted with responsibility as he shepherded Karun Nair towards a triple century. Nair has been scoring heavily in Ranji trophy and first class cricket over the last few seasons and all that experience stood him in good stead as he marched towards a triple hundred and in the process joined Bob Simpson and Garry Sobers as the third batsman to get a triple century as the first three figure mark in test cricket.

India's 4-0 win will give them a sense of satisfaction for their loss in a five test series in England in 2014 but at least they won a test match there which England did not manage to do in this series.

Karun Nair for his triple ton is the CEAT international cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

India’s facile win over England in Mumbai showed why this team has come a long way. England had scored 400 runs after batting first on a pitch where the ball hardly turned and came on to the bat at a good bounce. Mumbai has invariably produced pitches where the ball comes on quite nicely and batsmen can play through the line and whack it around. Last year the South Africans smashed the Indian attack for over 400 runs in a one-day match with three batsmen scoring hundreds. The Mumbai pitch gets better for batting on days two and three when it settles down after a bit of help to the new ball bowlers on day one. England thus would actually have benefitted if they had fielded first for their new ball bowlers would have extracted more out of the pitch than Umesh Yadav or Bhuvaneshwar Kumar did. It is understandable of course that the fear of the Indian spinners meant that England were never going to risk batting fourth on the Wankhede pitch.

England could still have given India a hard time if only they had taken their catches. Adil Rashid who is a fine bowler but not so good a fielder has now dropped Indian skipper Virat Kohli twice off not difficult chances and Kohli got big hundreds on both occasions to rub salt into Rashid’s wounds. His double century knock was one of the closest to batting perfections that one can hope to see. From the very first ball that he faced till he got out to a slightly tired shot in search of quick runs for a declaration Kohli hardly put a foot wrong. The one time he did Rashid grassed him and that was the last chance England had of containing the Indian skipper. Earlier Vijay had scored a classy ton and then Jayant Yadav batted splendidly to get his first hundred in Test cricket.

With a huge lead Ravichandran Ashwin spun a web around the English batsmen to end up with another 6 wicket haul to go with his six wickets in the first innings. In the process he beat Laxman Sivaramakrishnan’s record of 12 wickets standing at the very same Wankhede stadium since 1984. Since 5 wickets in an innings is akin to a century Ashwin can say that he has got a century in each innings. He and skipper Virat Kohli who hit his highest score of 235 are the CEAT International Cricketers of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Steve Smith

The break between the Test matches certainly seems to have helped England’s batsmen who have put up a much improved performance against the Indian spinners at the Wankhede stadium Mumbai. The pitch has always been good for batting with the even bounce it has and though it does help spinners, those who are prepared to use their feet and at the same time show some patience can stay and get runs. Keaton Jennings making his debut and in fact coming into the team after the injury to Haseeb Hameed was clearly unaffected by any negative thoughts that teams tend to get into when they are down in a series and his fresh mentality came through in the way he batted. There were no preconceived notions or theories that England cricket is known for and so he treated each ball on its merits and did not think it was a hand grenade that was going to explode in his face. His hundred and some good batting from the others helped England get to 400 but at the time of writing the Indian batsmen have responded in fine style and the match therefore will likely go down to the wire on the last day.

The Chappell - Hadlee Trophy is a terrific initiative between the two Trans-Tasman neighbours and the Australians wanting to show that they are on the way to a recovery swept to a series win over New Zealand. This was most convincing win over a good New Zealand team but the Australian batsmen led the way with some fantastic batting. David Warner slammed two hundreds and when he scores runs the Aussies invariably have a good score on the board. The first one-day game was dominated by the Australian skipper who got a wonderful century and in doing so notched his 6th one-day century of the year. His 164 enabled the Australians to get a massive score that New Zealand despite a brilliant century from Martin Guptill were unable to chase. Smith followed up with a 72 in the second game when David Warner got a century and then Mitchel Marsh went berserk and Australia scored runs almost at will in the final overs.

Is this the turn around for the Australians. After losing the first two Test matches of the three Test series against the Proteas they came back with loads of changes to their team for the final Test and won it quite comfortably. Then the sweep in the one-day series agianst New Zealand so they will be in a better frame of mind when they tackle the rest of their domestic season. If they continue to do well then they will come to India for the four Test match series with greater belief in themselves and look to erase the memories of the first ever clean sweep loss against India.

Steve Smith for his hundred and then 72 against New Zealand in the Chappell - Hadlee Trophy is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Tim Southee

The days when Test matches ended in draws is long gone thanks to the influence of limited overs cricket. Yes, there is still the odd stalemate that takes place but most times it is because a day or so has been lost to the bad weather and despite playing the extra half hour on the remaining days it is still not enough for a result to be achieved. Today there are a lot more runs scored, lot more boundaries and sixers hit and a heck of a lot less deliveries that are left alone by the batsmen these days. It makes for a super attractive game and though crowds don’t seem to realise it, Test cricket provides the best drama that surpasses any that the 50 overs or 20 overs format can give.

Last week there were three Test matches played in different parts of the world and all three had results in favour of the home team. That is another aspect that has come through in recent times where it’s extremely difficult if not downright impossible to beat the home team. This despite the presence of third country umpires and believe me, home umpires influenced games big time in the past in every country though of course the sub-continent umpires got it in the neck more than the other ‘pretenders’. Now it’s home pitches that are made to suit the strength of the home team though administrators would like the Test match to go all the way to the fifth day.

The South Africans have won the Test series with ease and this would belie the earlier observation that it’s tough to beat the home team but Australia seem to be in a bit of disarray with their cricket especially their batting. The win in the 'dead rubber' third Test will no doubt help raise the morale and with the vulnerable Pakistanis due to play a Test series there, now the Aussies could get just the lift they are looking for to end the season on a high and then take India on in India.

The manner in which Pakistan lost 9 wickets after tea on the final day of play against New Zealand to lose the Test match shows that with them anything is possible. They are such a mercurial team capable of playing the most wonderfully incredible cricket for a session and then in the next session play ineptly to lose any advantage their brilliant earlier session would have got them. At one stage they were poised for an unlikely win and then they ended up losing with just a few deliveries remaining for the match to end.

Tim Southee for his 8 wicket haul in the game pips centurions Stephen Cook and Usman Khawaja in the Adelaide Test and Ross Taylor who got a ton for the Kiwis to be the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

There were a couple of Test matches played last week. The Australians, having been beaten by the South Africans in both the Tests, were scarpering and looking for some excuses for their defeat. As always their extended support staff, their media, came to their rescue with the allegation against Faf du Plessis about ball tampering. du Plessis was seen on TV applying saliva on the ball after having first put his finger in the mouth which had a lolly. So. Aha! that was the reason why the Australian batsmen couldn’t cope with the South African bowlers. It had nothing to do with fine bowling by the South Africans but all to do because the ball was tampered with by the Proteas’ skipper. Many times when a player is pulled up and asked to appear for a hearing by the match referee he pleads guilty because that's the easy way out. He will be fined and to today’s cricketers earning the big bucks in various leagues, a fine doesn’t hurt at all. So they are out of the hearing in a matter of minutes and back to having a drink with the rest of the team. This time however du Plessis decided to fight it and he got punished with a 100% fine of his match fees. He is going to appeal it as he should.

When the Aussies do that then can their ancestors be far behind? So having been soundly beaten by the Indians where their seam bowlers got a fraction of the wickets that the spinners got, the target was the Indian skipper for a similar charge of ball tampering. Anil Kumble has given it the thump it deserves.

What is astonishing is that all this is called cheating while a batsman who edges the ball but doesn’t walk is not called so or a bowler who knows the batsman has edged the ball onto the pads but still appeals for leg before wicket. Many such instances happen every day of the game but nobody says a word. Sad isn’t it? The argument put forward is that the umpire is there to give a decision but then not just the umpires on the field but the TV umpire was there to see if there was anything untoward being done to the ball so why not accept that decision that Virat Kohli did nothing wrong.

Kohli did nothing wrong with the bat either in both the innings of the Vizag Test match scoring a capital century in the first innings and just missing another one in the second. His batting along with Pujara’s set the platform for India’s bowlers who then seamed and spun the English to their defeat.

Virat Kohli for his batting in both innings of the second Test match is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Quinton de Kock

South Africa have kept their winning rhythm against Australia with another emphatic win at Hobart. They earlier had a clean sweep against the Aussies at home where they beat them in all five one day matches. Now with one test left, they will be looking to have another whitewash against Steve Smith’s men.

The Australians may have thought that it would be easy with Dale Steyn out of action with a shoulder injury which will keep him out of the game for another six months which pretty much means the end of the current season in South Africa but Kyle Abbott who replaced him came up with a terrific performance. Vernon Philander utilised the conditions in Hobart to great effect with an exhibition of swing bowling that baffled the Australian batsmen. Australia were dismissed for another score under 100 by the South Africans in recent times. Then South Africa batted with great determination and ensured that they got a handy lead. They struggled too at the start and lost five wickets without too many runs on the board. However, the South Africans have found a fabulous wicket keeper batsman in Quinton de Kock. He cracked a delightfully stroke filled hundred and his partnership with the quickly developing Bavuma gave South Africa the extra runs that they needed to have an attacking field with close in fielders. De Kock and Bavuma went to the same school and so are used to batting with each other and their understanding in reading the situation and in running between the wickets was terrific.

That lead was handy and Faf du Plessis gave his bowlers an attacking field that put pressure on the Australian batsmen. Over the last season the Australians have struggled with opening batsmen with David Warner having multiple partners. That is not working and when Warner gets out early then the Australians find themselves in trouble. Smith had played a lone hand in the first innings total of 85 with an individual score of 48 not out but the team needed much more than that to get back in the match. Smith along with Usman Khawaja had a good partnership but once Khawaja was dismissed early on the next morning the rest collapsed like a deck of cards. Abbott kept the pressure around the off stump and Kagiso Rabada came in and simply blew the tail away with fast bowling of the highest order.

The two architects of South Africa’s win were Quinton de Kock with bat and gloves behind the stumps and Kyle Abbott who picked nine wickets in the game and both are the CEAT International cricketers of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Rangana Herath

Cricket is such a wonderful game to put some things right. The moment a player gets too big for his boots he is invariably brought down with a thud. Hard work gets rewards most times too so the zero of yesterday can become a hero of today just like the hero of today can be a zero tomorrow.

Dean Elgar had got a pair the last time he played in Perth against the Australians. Last week he got a classy century at the same venue that helped the South Africans recover in the second innings after having conceded a small lead of 2 runs to Australia in the first innings. His partnership with JP Duminy took South Africa to a position of strength. Despite losing Dale Steyn to a shoulder injury the South Africans had plenty of runs on the board, thanks to the Elgar - Duminy partnership and useful contributions down the line by the South Africans. Then Kagiso Rabada bowled the Proteas to a big win with his fast bowling. He shouldered the load manfully bowling long spells for someone so young and ensured that Steyn’s absence was not felt.

In India Ben Stokes also made up for his failures against India in 2014, where in three innings he couldn’t get a run, with a century that had contrasting moods. There was some fierce hitting, then some watchful periods but at all times the determination to come good was evident. What England’s batsmen have shown in the first Test is that they will not be pushovers and that India’s bowlers will have to work hard to get wickets.

In Zimbabwe Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka to an emphatic win over the home team to give the Lankans a 2-0 series win. Herath was captaining the team in the absence of Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal who were injured. It was a wonderful recognition for the veteran cricketer who has played with great distinction for Sri Lanka. His 13 wicket haul destroyed Zimbabwe even as his teammates DW de Silva and D.A.S. Gunaratne got hundreds in the big Sri Lankan total.

The DRS has made its appearance in India and at the time of writing it has had a mixed result. Both teams have got some right and some wrong. The pitch at Rajkot has been a good one for batting. The ball has not turned square so the umpires have had it easier than when the ball is spinning and bouncing with close in fielders around the bat appealing at every opportunity.

Rangana Herath for his 13 wicket haul that helped Sri Lanka to a series win is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Mehedi Hasan Miraz

Pakistan's loss to West Indies in the third Test match should come as no surprise to those who follow their cricket. LikeAustralia around the end of the last century used to lose the inconsequential last game after the series was already won, so also the Pakistan team in recent years has not played the final game of a series with the intensity of earlier games that has helped them to win the series. Till Ricky Ponting took over as Australia’s skipper the Aussies were pretty lackadaisical once the series was won and the dead rubber game would be taken lightly. Pakistan had won the first two Tests with ease and on a Sharjah pitch which hardly does anything weren’t expected to bat badly in both innings of the third and final Test match. That’s exactly what happened as Jason Holder of all people picked up a five wicket haul. That more than anything else explains the attitude and approach of the Pakistani batsmen. Having said that, no praise can be too high for Kraigg Brathwaite who batted superbly in both innings to take West Indies to an overseas win after two decades.Brathwaite was the one who ensured that the Windies got a handy first innings lead as he carried his bat through and then in the second innings when there was a bit of a collapse he and Shane Dowrich held their nerve and guided the team to a win.

In Bangladesh their new bowler Mehedi Hasan spun a web around the England batsmen to give his team a fine win. It was a terrific comeback by the hosts after losing the first Test narrowly. Tamim Iqbal batted well in both innings but it was the young off-spinner who was the pick of the Test.

In Zimbabwe the home team showed good fighting qualities despite facing a mountain of runs scored by the visiting SriLankan team but were unable to last out the final day’s play and lost the Test with a little over four overs left to go. Their skipper Graeme Cremer got a century in the first innings and a useful 43 in the second innings besides taking four wickets in the Sri Lankan innings but that was not enough to stop the Lankans. For the Lankans FDM Karunaratne with a half century and a century was the stand out player.

Mehedi Hasan Miraz for his 12 wicket haul that helped Bangladesh register their first win over England is the CEATInternational Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Yasir Shah

The last week has seen some nail biting cricket in Bangladesh and India with matches on balance till the very end. On the other hand it was business as usual in United Arab Emirates as West Indies lost once again and now are in danger of losing all three Test matches against Pakistan. The total lack of resistance from the Caribbean boys was painful even for the opposing skipper Misbah ul Haq so just imagine what it must be like for those others who played in the champion West Indian teams and their followers.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Yasir Shah are going neck and neck in reaching landmarks like 100 wickets and 200 wickets quicker than most others and it was Yasir’s ten wicket haul that spun Pakistan to another emphatic victory. This too on a pitch where there was not much turn.

In Bangladesh, Mehedi Hasan made a terrific debut capturing 6 wickets to restrict England to 293 in the first innings. Bangladesh came perilously close to winning the Test but their batting didn’t quite support their bowlers and they ended up losing by a narrow margin. Ben Stokes played a belligerent innings to give England the extra runs and then swung the ball at good pace to get the Bangladesh batsmen out just short of what would have been a path breaking win for the home team.

In India, Virat Kohli continued to dominate as he smashed a brilliant 154 to take India home in the third one-day game. he had great support from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who made 80 runs and their partnership took India close. Their running between the wickets was a joy to behold as they stole the extra run from right under the noses of the superb fielding unit of New Zealand.

New Zealand have struck back well to level the series as this is being written and the fifth and deciding game promises to be a thriller. Bangladesh play their second Test against England and West Indies have a chance on the flat Sharjah pitch to salvage something from what has been a disastrous tour so far. We could be in for another thrilling week of cricket but meanwhile Yasir Shah for his ten wicket haul and leading Pakistan to a win is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Azhar Ali

Azhar Ali found out, if he didn’t know already, that cricket is a great leveller. In Pakistan’s first ever day night test match played with the pink ball, the Pakistan one day skipper belted out a triple century becoming the fourth batsman from his country to hit a triple ton. He had great support from his opening partner and later from Asad Shafiq as Pakistan went on to post a big total. In the second innings of the test, Azhar Ali was out for nothing and in the first innings of the second test which is going on at the moment he was out for a duck. One would expect a batsman with a triple century under his belt to be in prime form for the remainder of the series but Azhar has struggled in his next two innings. The West Indians who were disappointing on the field did better with the bat to get runs with Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels pulling in all their experience. Then Pakistan as has been seen in the past took it easy in their second innings and suddenly found themselves in trouble as Devendra Bishoo ran through them getting 8 wickets in the innings to give his team a semblance of hope. When the final day’s play began there were all results possible. Darren bravo batted superbly again and at one stage Misbah ul Haq admitted that he was a bit worried that his team could lose. That didn’t happen once Bravo got out and eventually the Pakistanis won by a comfortable margin. What was surprising is that Yasir Shah who in the first innings became the second fastest to get to 100 test wickets was hardly effective in the second innings as Devendra Bishoo had been for the West Indies. Both leg spinners did well for their teams getting them into positions of strength but eventually it was Pakistan’s huge first innings lead that helped them overcome a spirited West Indies challenge. The West Indian bowling apart from that effort from Bishoo continues to be ordinary but any team where Holder is going to be one of the four main bowlers is going to struggle to contain good batting teams. Holder is a nice guy but he has to be the fifth support bowler for his team rather than in the four. Roston Chase and he give the West Indian batting depth but the team balance is all wrong unless Chase bats one notch higher as does Holder. That will allow the West Indies to go in with four regular bowlers with Chase and Holder being the support bowlers.

In India, the one day series is level after New Zealand came back thanks to a classy century from their skipper Kane Williamson and some fine all round bowling show especially from their new ball bowlers. New Zealand will want to capitalise on that win as India is not getting off to flying starts with the bat as they used to do earlier. Rohit Sharma is such a devastating batsman but so far he simply has not hit his straps with the bat. Rahane too has not been fluent and with Pandey and Jadhav still relatively new boys the batting is looking not as solid as it used to earlier.

Azhar Ali for his magnificent triple century is the CEAT International Cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin's magnificent spin bowling got India a win with a day to spare in the third and final Test match in Indore. What made it special was the fact that there was no extraordinary turn from the pitch but the variety in his deliveries and angles and the speeds and spins imparted that spun the Kiwis to their doom. That there was nothing untoward in the pitch could be seen by the manner in which CheteshwarPujara and Gautam Gambhir had batted in the morning. The Kiwi collapse was brought about by spin bowling of the highest calibre. It was no surprise to see Ashwin win the man of the series award yet again and the way this thoughtful cricketer is progressing he should win many more such awards in the years to come.

Typically those Indians who don’t like to see India winning were quick to suggest thatAshwin should be rated only when he picks wickets abroad. Why? Has anyone including these same Indians ever doubted the greatness of overseas players who haven't done well in India or the subcontinent? Has anyone questioned Dennis Lillee’s greatness because he has only one wicket in the subcontinent? Has anyone doubtedShane Warne for not getting heaps of wickets on Indian pitches or Ricky Ponting's batting ability for getting only one century in several tours of India? So why questionAshwin’s wickets and his place among the greats of the game? Problem with theseIndians is that they don’t like to see India winning for then there won’t be anything to criticise the Indian team, isn’t it? This team under Virat Kohli is taking giant strides as a unit that can do well in all conditions. They have been fortunate to have had the tough as nails guidance of Ravi Shastri for a couple of years and now under an equally ferocious competitor Anil Kumble as coach they will get better and better. The unassuming batting coach has begun to reconstruct the batting stances and forward press movements that the batsmen had suffered from under the former 'useless coach' and we are seeing results already with Pujara batting in a refreshing vein with his balance being restored. Ashwin who is a fast learner and wants to be in the thick of action with both bat and ball was virtually unplayable and the selectors have done well to give him and Jadeja a break before the England Test series starts.

England have done well to clinch the one-day series against Bangladesh and they will be hoping to maintain the same kind of form in the Test series before they travel to neighbouring India for a five Test match series. In South Africa despite a valiant hundred from David Warner, Australia were unable to prevent the home team from scoring a clean sweep.

Ravichandran Ashwin for his outstanding bowling is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Babar Azam

The last week has seen contrasting fortunes for batsmen in different parts of the world. In India on an Eden Gardens pitch that challenged technique as well as temperament, the batsmen of both teams found it a struggle to get going. The fact that in the two Test matches that have been played so far no batsmen has reached a hundred is testimony to the fact that batting has not been easy in the India - New Zealand series. With the ball doing something, the contest with the bat has been fascinating to say the least. India with a more balanced attack than New Zealand have won both the Test matches and in doing so have reclaimed the number one ranking in Test cricket. They will be looking to have a clean sweep by winning the third Test match at Indore and creating a distance between them and the other teams who are looking to usurp their ranking.

In the United Arab Emirates and in South Africa the bat has done the talking as Pakistan demolished a hapless West Indian team in all the matches. In South Africa the hosts have shown a remarkable turn with the bat chasing down a huge score of 371 that the Australians had put up. Not often do we see that a team which has two centurions in its innings loses the game but that's exactly what happened as the Proteas chased down the Aussie score to win with enough to spare. In the first game the Aussies were blown away by an incredible knock from Quinton de Kock as he blasted his way to 178 with some of the crispest driving that one could hope to see. Then when in the next match the Australian batsmen put their hands up with David Warner and skipper Steve Smith getting brilliant hundreds it was David Miller who took the Proteas home with a whirlwind innings. The South Africans seem to love chasing big totals when it comes to playing against the Australians at home. Remember the 434 that they got to win a thriller at the Wanderers some years back against Ricky Ponting’s team. This time it’s Steve Smith’s team that has suffered and they will have to play extraordinarily well to get back in the series.

In United Arab Emirates Babar Azam became only the second batsman to score hundreds in all three games of a three match series. His batting has been the highlight and it looks like Pakistan have found another batting star. The West Indies continue to struggle as most of their experienced players have been given the go by and the younger players have not quite shown the temperament and skills that made the West Indies such a feared team in the past. Babar Azam for his three successive centuries in the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ravichandran Ashwin

Two associate member teams vying to be given full membership and Test match status have had contrasting results in the last few days. Ireland has been backed by big brother England for full membership for a long time and most, if not all of the Ireland players play in theEnglish county championships not as overseas players but local ones. However apart from the odd performance and that too against England they have hardly made an impact elsewhere. Even recently when they had a one-day series against Pakistan they were roundly beaten and new boys Afghanistan also shared the one-day series with them. Last week they were walloped by South Africa who were without AB de Villers and some other star SouthAfrican players.

Afghanistan on the other hand have now beaten Bangladesh in a one-day game and at the time of writing had a chance to win a series there too. The Afghan team has had much more impressive performances in all kinds of conditions yet not many talk about them being given full membership. It is not how good you are but the vote factor that comes in whenever there is any discussion about giving membership to countries like Ireland and Afghanistan. The two power blocs in the ICC think more about that vote which both teams will bring to the table and how it could affect them rather than the cricket that they will play on the field.

On the field Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja showed why they are the spin kings in the subcontinent with a terrific display to rock New Zealand. The Kiwis to their credit did not give up without a fight and India know that they will have to be on top of their game to win the series. Ashwin has become the second fastest to get to 200 Test wickets and but for the washout in Trinidad would have been joint fastest with Clarrie Grimmet. What has been most impressive is how he strives to be better than the previous day and works so hard at his cricket. His batting once again came in handy when India were wobbling against NewZealand in the first innings and he is now a genuine allrounder.

Ravindra Jadeja too has the makings of an allrounder at the Test level if he continues to contribute with the bat as he did in the Kanpur Test. Batting down at number 8 he perhaps feels he is in the team as a bowler and so looks to hit around but anybody who has two triple hundreds in first class cricket can bat at the Test level too. Once he gets the mix of aggression and caution right he will score regularly at the highest level. Ravichandran Ashwin for his ten wicket haul is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Indian Team

The loss of interest in Test cricket is worrying authorities all over the world and there are a lot of suggestions coming forward to ensure that Test cricket survives. The experiment with day and night Test cricket with the use of the pink ball has been tried and while it was successful in terms of the crowd response, which was phenomenal to say the least, the fact that the pink ball swung like a yo yo throughout the game and especially under lights has made the authorities think about that aspect. Clearly you want to have a game where the conditions remain the same for both teams. Sure there will be sessions when the sun may not be around or when rains interrupt the game and leave the outfield a bit wet which makes it harder for the bowlers to get a proper grip on the ball. The contrast swing which occurs when one side of the ball is kept dry thus goes out of the window when there is a wet outfield. This is also the problem when there is the dew factor in the evenings and that's why it's important to ensure the day and night matches are played when there won’t be the dew to make the ball wet and take contrast swing out of the equation.

Giving free tickets to schools or at nominal prices is also a great way to attract the next generation to watch Test cricket especially at centres where there is not much chance of having a full house. However the most important thing is to have the authorities show that they themselves care for Test cricket by making sure that every effort is being made to give the crowd, however small it may be, full value for their presence. The recent washouts in Durban and Port of Spain was not such a great advertisement for Test cricket when very little effort was made to get the ground ready for play. Port of Spain didn’t even have a super sopper which would have made it possible for play to start. There was bright sunshine but there was no play because the ground couldn't be dried enough for play to restart. The ICC has made its inquiries but as expected nothing much has been done with taking action against the two centres.

Now in Kanpur also we have had the same problem. Rain for half an hour and bright sunshine after that but not a ball bowled for the rest of the day’s play. There were two super soppers seen at the ground but they were not used which only the ground authorities can explain. But it is scenes like these which will make spectators themselves ask why they should support Test cricket if nobody is interested in giving them the game they have paid to watch.

The last week was one of those rare weeks in the year when there was no international game played so there is no CEAT International Cricketer of the Week but congratulations to Indian cricket for reaching the milestone of 500 Test matches which only three other countries have reached before them.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Glen Maxwell

Australia’s selectors don't quite care for reputations as could be seen by their dropping of Glen Maxwell from the one day team that played in Sri Lanka. The dropping seems to have had the desired effect as Maxwell returned to the team for the T20 series and smashed a gigantic 145 in the first game to lead Australia to a record win and followed it up with another quick innings of 69 that gave Australia just the momentum that they needed to win that game as well and thus finish the tour on a high after losing all three Test matches that they had played in the Emerald Isle.

Maxwell is a destroyer in the mould of Virender Sehwag and like Sehwag he can make the bowlers wish they had never taken up the sport or at least been batsmen or wicketkeepers or umpires but not bowlers. Like with Sehwag every time he gives himself a little time out in the middle before exploding he is devastating. It’s like throwing a ball or even bowling, whenever you give yourself the few steps or run up to get the momentum to throw or bowl the ball it comes out better than if you tried to bowl or throw just standing up without those few steps. It’s virtually impossible to be consistent trying to hit the ball out of the park from the first ball faced. Maxwell is also a brilliant fielder and a more than useful off-spinner, so he has a huge role to play if Australia are looking to win the one ICC Trophy that has eluded them so far - the ICC World Twenty20 Cup.

James Faulkner is another player who can change the course of the game with both bat and ball but it is as a bowler that he is doing his bit for Australia and it was his bowling that ensured that the Sri Lankans wouldn't be able to bounce back despite D.M. de Silva's heroics with the bat.

The Australians will be pleased with the way they bounced back after the demoralising losses in the Test series but they know they have plenty of hard work ahead of them if they are to do well in sub-continent conditions in Test matches. They have a series coming up early next year in India which is not going to be easy but they can learn plenty by keeping an eye on how New Zealand and England who tour before them fare in India. If they can pick up some pointers then with their doggedness and never say die attitude they can do much better than they did in Sri Lanka.

Glen Maxwell for his explosive batting is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - David warner

The Australians have made sure that they leave Sri Lanka with happier memories with a convincing win in the one-day series and then an incredibly huge win in the T20 game. Pakistan too saved themselves the embarrassment of a whitewash by winning the final one-day game in style and then beating England easily in the T20 game that followed the one-day series.

The Sri Lankans had to do without skipper Angelo Matthews as he had an injury and that depleted the team a fair bit as Matthews is the kind of cricketer who chips in with crucial wickets and when needed can hit the ball a long distance. The young Sri Lankan team just wasn’t able to raise their game to the levels they had shown in the Test series and were thus unable to make a comeback after levelling the series in the 2nd game. They just couldn’t post enough runs on the board to challenge the Australians. David Warner who had struggled for runs came good with a century in the final one-day game that gave the visitors a 4-1 win in the series. Warner’s century also came at a crisis time in his career and now the dashing left-hander can look forward to the new season back home with renewed confidence. The shortage of runs in the Test series and the first few one-day games had hurt the southpaw and his coming good is also great news because he is the kind of batsman that people drop everything to come and watch him hammer the bowlers.

Glen Maxwell also is made from the same mould but had lost his place in the team because his shot selection was not good. Warner too at the start of his career had similar problems thinking that he could get away by trying to smash the ball from the word go. As has been seen over the years no batsman who has tried to do that has ever been consistent but if the batsman gave himself a few deliveries to see what the pitch was doing and if the ball was deviating then he had a better chance to get his big shots connected and then catch up for the earlier watchful start. Maxwell promoted to open the batting in the T20 game scattered the Lankan bowlers to all parts of the ground and beyond to get 145 runs and make a terrific comeback to the team. The spell outside the squad would have given him ample time for reflection on his approach to batting and like Warner when he gets going there are no better entertainers in the game.

Ben Stokes is another exciting player but has had injury issues throughout the English season which has curtailed his international appearances. He too can blast the ball around and England today have some of the big shotmakers in the game with Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Jos Buttler to name a few.

David warner for his century that helped the Australians win the one-day series 4-1 is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Alex Hales Dale Steyn

Cricket is a funny game indeed. A batsman who is struggling to meet the ball suddenly finds everything coming off the middle of the bat. Batsmen who are striking cleanly inexplicably start missing the shots that they have been playing with ease earlier on. England's Alex Hales has not had the best of seasons. He is an attacking opening batsman who has found the red ball harder to negotiate than the white one. The main reason a lot of limited overs champions struggle in Test cricket is the red ball. It moves a lot more than the white ball which loses it's seam and shine very quickly and therefore comes on pretty much without deviating in the air or off the pitch. It's therefore lot easier to play through the line for the batsmen without worrying about getting an edge or missing the ball altogether as happens with the red ball. For the bowlers too the white ball does not help much and so they struggle in limited overs matches where the batsmen have the freedom to throw their bats at the ball from the word go.

Hales like many limited overs 'dadas' has not quite been able to make the change in bat speed and footwork that is needed to be consistent at the Test match level. There is also the need to give yourself a bit of time out in the middle to get used to the movement and bounce after which one can play shots and make up for the watchful start earlier. England have kept their faith in him in all three formats of the game. He is a natural for the limited overs forms and England is hoping that his free stroke making skills will come good in the Test format to balance out the solid approach of skipper Alistair Cook in Test cricket.

After not making enough runs in the first few one day games against Pakistan, Hales came good with a whirlwind knock that propelled England towards a record score in limited overs cricket. Joe Toot, Jos Buttler, skippe Eoin Morgan all made telling contributions as 4england got to 444 to beat the previous record by Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka are struggling in the limited overs series after beating the Aussies quite comprehensively in all three test matches and with their batting not quite getting runs the Australians have won the games quite easily. Big John Hastings has bowled quite superbly to restrict the Lankans and give his team easy totals to chase.

In South Africa one of the greatest fast bowlers in the game Dale st3eyn, has overcome injury issues to bowl with the venom and skill of old to demolish New Zealand and lead the Proteas to a win . Quinton de Kock has been batting splendidly too to give his team runs on the board on a difficult pitch.

Alex Hales Dale Steyn and John hastings with their winning performances share the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - James Faulkner

The apathy shown by those in charge of the Queens Park Oval meant that despite hot bright sunny days there was no play possible after the first day in the Trinidad Test. The downpour that came just around lunch on day one washed out the rest of that days play but while that was understandable it was unacceptable for a Test match venue not to be able to do enough to get the game going on the rest of the days when there was plenty of sunshine. One would have understood a delayed start on day two but even that didn't happen as there was no super sopper or enough covers or for that matter enough ground staff (only 6 people) to help get the ground ready for action.

What was disappointing was that despite what had happened on first two days there was no effort to get a super sopper or more covers for the remaining days. The only people who have lost money is the TV channel that bought the rights and they have every right to demand answers for why there was so much indifference and apathy shown in getting the game started.

The other party that lost out was the Indian team who had the chance to stay at the number one ranking if they were able to beat the West Indies in the final Test too. With no play happening they lost the ranking to Pakistan who came back brilliantly after losing the second and third Test to win the final Test and level the series.

In Sri Lanka the Australians have manged to salvage something by winning the first one-day game. Mitchell Starc who had missed a great deal of action prior to this tour became the fastest to capture 100 ODI wickets and was instrumental along with James Faulkner in getting Australia to a winning start. Faulkner was the man of the match for his efforts in the first game.

The Lankans hit back by winning the second game with their new batting star Kusal Mendis getting a half century to add to the one he had got in the first game too. Here is a batsman worth keeping an eye for the future as he looks at home in Test cricket as well as limited overs cricket. The two senior pros, skipper Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal are also making their regular contributions in the middle order and helping the Lankans put up good scores.

The Durban game also suffered the same fate as the one in Trinidad with rains playing spoilsport. There were reports suggesting that both venues have been marked by the match referees and the ICC has set up a committee to investigate why there could be no play possible.

James Faulkner for his bowling efforts just pips Mendis, Chandimal and his own team mate Starc to be the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Rangana Herath

This is being written on Raksha Bandhan day when the news of P.V.Sindhu’s superlative display to get in the finals of the ladies singles in the Rio Olympics has come through. Earlier Sakshi Malik had won a bronze medal for India in wrestling so as of writing the two assured medals for India have come from women. This is a great shot in the arm for the Honourable Prime Minister's most laudable programme of Beti Bachao. It is the women and not the men who have won medals for India and that in itself is as powerful a statement as any can be to treat women as equals.

While the Olympics is a celebration of youth what cricket has shown is that there is no substitute for experience when two players nudging the big 40 played stellar roles in getting their teams to big wins. At the Oval in England, Pakistan staged a brilliant recovery after having lost the previous two Tests and won handsomely to level the series two all. Younis Khan who unfortunately seldom gets talked about when the great batsmen from Pakistan are mentioned, showed once again why he is the man with most runs and hundreds in Pakistan's history. He had not batted to his potential in the earlier Test matches and this was his last chance to leave the shores of England with a performance to remember. Clearly he and Misbah-ul-Haq have played their last Test matches in England and both did enough to show why age is just a number. While Misbah celebrated his century in the first Test with a series of push-ups, Younis' celebration was a subdued one. His double ton gave Pakistan just the kind of cushion that their bowlers needed and the bowlers responded brilliantly to dismiss England for a none too big score that left the Pakistani openers only 40 runs to chase which they got comfortably.

In Sri Lanka another veteran bowled superbly to capture a record haul 25 wickets to give the Sri Lankans a whitewash. Australia lost their number one ranking with this abject show and they will have to work harder to regain their confidence for their trip to India in February next year. While Herath's performance has been quite outstanding the Sri Lankans have discovered some fine young batsmen too. Kusal Mendis’ innings of 178 in the second innings of the first Test ensured the Lankans had enough runs on the board for Herath and company to defend, then Kusal Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva scored brilliantly and the young but experienced Dinesh Chandimal also getting a century the Lankans had at least one batsman who rose to the occasion for every Test. Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh got hundreds in the first innings but there was little support from others as the Aussies crashed to another defeat.

Rangana Herath for his 13 wickets in the third Test match is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Mitchell Starc

Even as the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics is finding the going tough, the one piece of good news that came out was the election of Mrs. Nita Ambani to the IOC Board. It is a well deserved appointment as Mrs Ambani has shown by her leadership of the Mumbai Indians franchise as also the ISL which has given Indian football a shot in the arm or should I say a shot in the legs. With more youngsters following football now than other sports there is a huge opportunity for Indian football with the participation of some big names from the international arena as players and coaches in the ISL to take giant strides and be one of the competitive teams in world football.

The Indian cricket team may have missed out on going 2-0 up after the terrific fightback by the West Indians in the Kingston Test but they continue to do well in the West Indies. In the third Test despite their top order being dismissed quite cheaply Ravi Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha batted really well with great determination and good cricket sense to take India to more than respectable score. With the rains interfering and washing out the entire third day’s play a draw is most likely result and so the last Test in Port of Spain, Trinidad is the home team’s last chance to salvage the series with a win.

In Sri Lanka the Australians are having a miserable time as the spinners are making life tough for them. If it was Rangana Herath in the first Test, it was off-spinner Perera who took ten wickets in the Test to win the game for Sri Lanka. In Zimbabwe the New Zealanders were just too strong for the home team and won both Tests but it’s good to see the Zimbabweans playing Test cricket and not just focussing on limited overs cricket.

In England, Pakistan’s proclivity to collapse means even though they get good totals in the first innings they can just fold up in the second and hand over the match on a platter to the hosts. How they could have done with a batsman of the class of Hanif Mohammad who sadly passed away a few days back. Hanif Saab was just the kind of batsman who could hold an innings together at the top which is what Pakistan is lacking at the moment.

Despite losing both the Test matches so far Australia will be pleased with the way Mitchell Starc is coming back from an injury has taken over as the leader of their new ball attack. His 11 wicket haul in the second Test makes him the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Roston Chase

Sri Lanka look like they are on their way to wrap the second Test and with it the series too. By the time this appears in print the second Test will be decided and we will know if the Aussies showed any resistance at all. The Aussie performance augurs well for the Indians for they host the Aussies in February - March next year and as sure as night follows day, the pitches will turn from day one. Rangana Herath has been terrific as he spins a web around the seemingly leaden footed Australian batsmen. However the player who the rest of the cricketing world will be eager to see more of is Kusal Mendis. Mendis scored a superb century in the second innings of the first Test which gave the Lankans the kind of score they could defend and so despite conceding the first innings lead they beat the Australians quite comfortably with Herath picking up another fiver. Herath has a simple uncomplicated run-up to the crease and delivery which doesn’t seem to put any strain on his body and so despite the extra weight he can bowl long spells. His run-up and action are quite reminiscent of Padmakar Shivalkar who also with his easy run-up and action could bowl as many overs as his captain wanted even in the fiercest of heat. Mendis batted beautifully in the first innings of the second Test as well and with the reliable duo of skipper Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal also making good contributions, the Australians have a mountain to climb to win the second Test.

The West Indians did climb a mountain to save the second Test when at the end of the rain shortened fourth day it looked all over bar the shouting. It was a quite different West Indian team on the final day though. Roston Chase, the off-spinner who had captured five Indian wickets when the visitors totalled 500, scored a terrific century to hold the Indians up. He had good support from Jermaine Blackwood who got another 60 following up his 62 in the first innings and Shane Dowrich who had batted well in the first Test too. Dowrich got a bad call from the umpire but Chase went on and on and ensured that the game was saved with skipper Holder who also got a half- century. Sure the pitch had slowed down a bit and there was less turn in it than on previous days but the application and attitude on the final day was a far cry from the first Test where the Windies seemed to give up and not fight. This should make the remaining two Test matches interesting and the Indians know they will now have to work harder for their wins.

The Indians too had their stars with Rahul and Rahane scoring centuries and Ashwin picking up five wickets in the first innings. His example of scoring a century and also grabbing five wickets in the first Test was followed marvelously by fellow off-spinner and batsman Roston Chase in the second Test and for that effort Roston Chase playing only his second Test match is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Joe Root

Way back in the 1980s there were four of the greatest all rounders who have graced the game. Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. They came to the fore primarily as new ball bowlers but over a period of time polished their batting to such a tremendous extent that they won games for their countries with the bat too. An all rounder is one who is capable of getting into the team either as a batsman or as a bowler. Today Ravichandran Ashwin is a player who can get into the Indian team as a batsman even if he was not a bowler and as a bowler even if he couldn’t survive two deliveries as a batsman. The above four were intensely competitive at all times but became even more so if they found that one of them had done well in a game. That would be just the energiser that the other would need to lift his game and perform and show that he too was as good if not better than the one who had performed in the previous game. Their rivalry helped their teams as none of them wanted to take a backward step and concede that the other was better. Of course a lot of their performances also depended on their team mates for if their teammates did not lift their game then whatever these greats did was not always enough to ensure a win for their country.

Today the cricketing world is blessed to witness four of the top batsmen in the world who are wowing with their range of shots and the versatility of their stroke play. Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Steve Smith and Joe Root are all middle order batsmen who lead by example and are taking batting to another level altogether with the shots that they execute. There is also Kane Williamson who is not too far away but these four are clearly the best in their teams and would walk into any Test team in the world. They may not admit it but when one of them gets a big score it galvanises the others into getting a big one too. It was therefore no surprise that when Virat Kohli scored his first Test double century, Joe Root wasn’t too far behind in getting one himself. While Kohli got out at exactly 200 Root went on to get 254 and then followed it up with 71 in the second innings to make up for his tame dismissals in the first Test against the visiting Pakistani team. England won the Test and the series is now tantalisingly poised. Alastair Cook also joined in the fun with his 29th Test century.

However it is Joe Root for his exceptional batting in both innings of the second Test who wins the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Chris Woakes

Even as this is being written, England have made a strong comeback in the second test match at old Trafford. They would have been pretty confident of beating Pakistan after their earlier performance against the Sri Lankans but the Pakistanis had a much more varied attack and that took England by surprise. As has happened innumerable times in the past when teams focus their energies and planning a startegy against one player who they feel is a threat to them, it is some other player who comes up with a match winning performance and that is what happened in the first test at Lords.

There was huge hype about Mohammad Amir making a comeback to test cricket at the venue where he had been found guilty of bowling a no ball deliberately. For that offence he served some time in jail too but his repentance and serving of the five year ban helped him make a comeback. He also bowled well in the first class game before the tour started so clearly England saw him as the danger man and focussed on him. In the event it was Yasir Shah who got ten wickets in the game and along with Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz bowled Pakistan to a fabulous win. Amir did get wickets but not as many as England were concerned about. Of course nobody can forget Misbah ul Haq's century at the age of 42 and that too in his first test on English soil and that gave Pakistan a total that enabled them to take a handy first innings lead.

Chris Woakes has been on the fringe of the England team for quite some time now and has been in and out of the team. After his performances in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, his confidence would have been high and he took that into the first test where he bowled with fire and purpose to pick up 11 wickets in the game and in the process became only the second English bowler to take five wickets in each innings of a test at Lords. His batting didnt quite come up to the deeds in the limited overs series against Lanka but that is a huge plus as England look to have the kind of depth in batting that can make them a team for all sorts of pitches and conditions With Ben Stokes also looking fit, Engalnd will have two all rounders capable of changing the course of the game with both bat and ball.

He pips Yasir Shah to the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ed Joyce

Going by what we have seen in the two warm up games the Indian team has played the batsmen won’t have to worry too much about the west Indian bowling. True they have not yet faced up to the ones who will be playing in the first test but if the fringe bowlers aren’t posing too many problems then the regular ones will need to be watched only while the ball is hard and new. All the Indian batsmen have spent a useful bit of time on the field and got a feel of the pitches so its only a matter of not losing concentration and capitalising on a good start. as for the bowling the spinners have done most of the damage and thats good news too since the Windies players are not that adept at playing the ball that turns. Not that it will spin too much there but the way Ashwin, Mishra and Jadeja have bowled means that India could well go in with two seamers and two spinners.

In the first test at lords Misbah ul Haq got a hundred at the age of 42 and showed that while physical fitness is needed it is mental fitness that is crucial. Amazingly it was his first test in England having never been picked to go there before this. Yasir shah then bowled exceptionally well to get his name on the honours board along with his skipper. there was a lot of debate in England about Mohammad Amir returning to test cricket at the same venue where he was found to be overstepping on purpose. The England skipper felt that all those who indulge in malpractice should be banned for life which was a sentiment also expressed by many former england players. Amir made a relatively quiet return thanks to some easy catches being dropped off his bowling. Fielding is so important now for a reprieve can cost heavily as the Sri Lankans found out during their test series earlier. Where fielding let the Lankans down most was in the second limited overs match where they had restricted England till the 4th ball of the last over. With 10 runs needed to win the Lankans thanks to some sloppy fielding allowed England to take 3 runs of a ball that had not gone far and should have not been more than 2 and then Liam Plunkett got a nice length ball which he hit for a six to tie the match. A win there could have restored Sri Lanka confidence but they just succumbed after that to lose the one day series as well to end the tour without a win under their belt.

Afghanistan have been playing some terrific cricket and their clashes with Ireland are always spicy since both teams know that beating the other will enhance their chances of getting the nod as a full test match playing member. The Irish team has just about every player playing in English county championship so have loads of experience. They brought that into play by batting sensibly to win the third game to tie the series at the time of writing this column. Ed Joyce who has played for England got a century and Kevin O’brien who was instrumental in beating England in the 2011 world cup in India also batted and bowled well. Joyce and O’brien for their performances are the ceat international cricketers of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Rahmat Shah

The Sri Lankans after the retirement of their star players over the past few years have struggled in their rebuilding phase. The younger players have found it a bit hard to get near the lofty standards set by Muralidharan, Vaas, Dilshan, Jaywardene and Sangakkara and so the results have been disappointing to the fans of Lankan cricket who were used to the brilliant cricket that the above mentioned stars played. It is therefore no surprise that the Sri Lankan Board is not in favour of the proposal to have a two tier system of Test match cricket with promotion and relegation. The way the current team is shaping the Lankans are rightly concerned that their team could end up in the lower division which can have an adverse impact on their revenues. Many pundits have advocated a two tier division in Test cricket to revive interest in the format and make it more meaningful. Their arguments for the two divisions are that not all full members are good enough at the Test match level so it makes for some lop-sided games which Test cricket does not need in the current scenario where the T20 format seems to be taking over the interest of the spectators.

That it will impact the revenues of the full member boards who find themselves in the lower division does not seem to concern the advocates for the two divisions and that's mainly because all of them come from countries whose teams are strong and unlikely in the extreme of going into the lower division.

It does seem ironic that these were the pundits who opposed the so called 'big three' when last year the ICC passed a resolution whereby the Boards of Australia, England and India got a larger share of the revenues for the simple reason that the majority, if not all, of the sponsorships for ICC events come from the big three. It is understandable about the objections to the high posts in ICC going only to the big three and not to the others but in any enterprise the one who puts more money usually gets the lions share was forgotten by them. That a board that does not put a single cent in any ICC event should get the same fees as those who put in the majority share is an argument just hard to understand. Does not the USa get a bigger share in the revenues of the Olympics mainly because most of the sponsorship and TV revenues come from USA? Does not UK get more for the FIFA events than other countries? Then why object if the three countries who contribute to sponsorship and TV revenues for ICC events should get more than those countries who do not contribute at all? Mind you, despite this the other countries also get more than what they would otherwise get.

Afghanistan are playing some superb cricket as they demolished Scotland in the 2 one-day games that they played but does anyone from the old powers who are forever advocating the inclusion of their satellite countries to the Test level ever say anything about the Afghans being given Test status. Should not the sub-continent Boards promote Afghanistan as a Test match team?

Rahmat Shah for his magnificent century is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Jason Roy

England are showing why they will be the team to watch in the 2019 ICC World Cup. Not only is it home advantage for them it's also the manner in which they have taken to limited overs cricket under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan. Their approach before Morgan took over was what India's was in the first World Cup. They were clueless how to go about chasing a target or setting one. They have shed that old approach of keeping wickets in hand while the ball is new and swinging around and now attack it as if the first few overs are the last few left. This straightaway puts the opposition under pressure and the opposition skipper looks to change his bowlers around and doesn't get anywhere as every other bowler gets clobbered too. To be fair England bat deep down the order so the openers can have a crack from the first ball itself knowing that even if they fail there's enough batting to follow.

Kumar Sangakkara recently said that Jason Roy his teammate at Surrey has more talent than he ever had. Now a lot of overseas players playing County cricket do tend to say exaggerated things about their team mates but the manner in which Roy has batted in the two one-day series so far does indicate that the Lankan legend was not going over the top in his praise. Roy blasted Sanga's country's bowlers to all corners of The Oval, his home ground to take England to another famous win. In one of the earlier games he and Alex Hales had chased down another 250 plus score without being separated. The Lankan bowlers have not been able to bowl the line nor the length that restricts the batsmen and their fielding also has been below par which hasn't helped. The skipper Angelo Matthews and deputy Dinesh Chandimal have been the saving graces with their superb batting.

In the tri-series in the Caribbean Australia showed why they are the top dogs in limited overs cricket by clinching the trophy with ease. Undaunted by the impressive score put up by the hosts thanks to a classy ton from Darren Bravo, the Australians won comfortably with overs to spare. Josh Hazlewood bowled superbly to stop the Windies when they looked like getting over 300 and got a fiver in the bargain. He also ended up as the man of the series for his bowling efforts throughout the series.

However it is England's Jason Roy with his two match winning centuries who is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Marlon Samuels

India’s young guns kept their cool as they defended a small total that they had posted in the deciding one-dayer. Picking the right combination did the trick again as the IPL experienced bowlers bowled a terrific last couple of overs to deny Zimbabwe a series win. For full member teams it’s vital that they don't get overconfident and lose to associate member teams for those teams are only waiting to tell the world that one swallow makes a summer when it’s evident that the clouds are still hovering over their cricket.

So Sri Lanka’s thrashing and that's the only word to describe it will have hopefully silenced all those from Ireland who are clamouring for a full membership status. Most, if not all the Ireland players play in the English County Championships and so come together only for an international and don't necessarily play in the Irish domestic game. They believe that just because they are playing county cricket they will be good at the international level too. The beauty of being in the United Kingdom is whenever England finds that there is a player from Ireland, Scotland who can fit into their side then he is picked for England since there is no need for any qualification. Ireland's Boyd Rankin was picked in the England side that toured Australia few years back where he got so nervous that he started vomiting on his Test debut. That was the end of his cricket for England and now he is back playing for Ireland without even so much as a qualifying process again. The irony will be that if his form improves he could play for England in the summer so in one season he can switch countries when others have to qualify by residence for four years at least to play for a country other than the one where they were born or where they played under-19 cricket.

In West Indies they continue to pick players who do not merit a place in the team and are hoping that the others will carry the team to a win. Marlon Samuels has been batting brilliantly but with a skipper who bats at number nine and bowls only a part of his full quota of overs it’s like playing with 10 players. Jason Holder may be a personable young man but over the past couple of years has done nothing to prove to his critics that he deserves a place in the West Indies team. When there is no respect for the skipper other players play more for themselves and so keep doing enough to keep their places in the team, never mind if the team loses.?

Marlon Samuels and MDKJ Perera who smashed the Ireland bowling to all corners and also outside the ground are the two players who share the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Hashim Amla

The tri series in the West Indies between the hosts West Indies, Australia and South Africa is turning out to be a close run thing. While the current West Indian team is not a great one in the longer format of test cricket, its limited overs group is a terrific one. They have played quite good cricket to beat both the Aussies and the Proteas and then lost badly too.

So what looked at the start as being a two horse race between Australia and South Africa has livened up considerably. After the initial setback, the South Africans have come back strongly with a superb performance with both bat and ball. Hashim Amla must be the most underrated and unsung batsman in the game. He scores heavily in all forms of the game but perhaps because he does it with silky smooth strokes and not the power hitting which modern batting is, it doesn't get noticed. He is also a cricketer who wears his success humbly and there are no over the top celebrations on getting to a 50 or hundred that also is the norm in today’s TV age. If Mahendra Singh Dhoni is captain cool then Hashim Amla is the big ice cube.

Exactly the opposite as far as celebrations are concerned is Imran Tahir who probably gets more tired running around the ground after getting a wicket than from the number of overs he bowls. Having said that he has bowled craftily in a format where short boundaries, big bats and muscle bound batsmen make bowling spin not such a smart career move.

In England, what was turning out to be a one sided contest became an interesting one as Sri Lanka picked up their performance as the weather warmed up. However, their fielding was terrible and that is inexcusable in modern day cricket and they lost the chance to overturn the tables on the hosts. Jonny Bairstow who got two hundreds in the series was dropped early in both those innings and that helped England recover from a precarious position.

India's one day series whitewash was a great opportunity to K.L Rahul to showcase his talent and he grabbed it with both hands. From the moment he got right behind the line to Mitchell Johnson to the first ball he played in test cricket, it was evident that here is a batsman who will serve Indian cricket well. He didn't do well in that game and that was clearly due to nerves, but now he is showing the temperament and shot selection that promises a grand future.

The above mentioned had a great week and so Amla, Tahir Bairstow and Rahul share the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Sunil Narine

Towards the end of the IPL it was seen that Sunil Narine was beginning to bowl like his old self, bamboozling the batsmen as to which way the ball was going to turn. It was understandable that when he began the IPL he was more than a bit nervous as he was coming back after he had been suspended for a suspect action. It is the hardest thing to do to make a comeback after the world has been told that your earlier wickets may not have all been because of a clean action but one which was dodgy and is now reported as such. The only thing harder would be making a comeback after one has been under the scanner for match fixing for then it’s not just the bowling action but every other action that is taken on and off the field that will be under the greatest of scrutinies. The Kolkata team used him thoughtfully appreciating his nervousness and got him in the thick of action slowly. It may well have cost them a place in the finals as Narine has been a match winner for them even more than Andre Russell or Yusuf Pathan. He himself grew in confidence as the tournament progressed and in the last few games he was back to his best.

He has now carried that confidence into the tri series as he spun the South Africans out in the first game of the tri-series with Australia being the third team. Even AB de Villers was unable to stop him as he spun a web around the other batsmen and restricted the Proteas to a score that fellow Trinidadian Kieron Pollard helped West Indians overcome with plenty of wickets and deliveries to spare. The West Indians though not as awesome as in their pomp are beginning to show that in limited overs matches they are still a competitive team capable of beating the best and that those who take them lightly do so at their own peril.

The one-day series is nicely poised with all teams having won a game each at the time of writing this. Australia are looking the best balanced with its batting and bowling and if the boys from the Caribbean don't lapse into their couldn’t care less attitude they could be the team to watch out for as they showed in the ICC World Twenty20.

Sunil Narine for his six wickets is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - David warner

England's comfortable series win over Sri Lanka exposes once again the frailty of the batsmen from the sub-continent against top quality swing bowling. James Anderson and Stuart Broad have made the ball talk as they tormented the Lankan batsmen with their swing and seam movement. The Lankans got their act together in the second innings of the second Test but it did not help them save the Test and the series. It will be a bitter blow to Angelo Matthews under whom Sri Lanka had won the series last time. He himself batted with the freedom that one associates with his batting and he had great support from Dinesh Chandimal who scored a terrific century to help avoid another innings defeat.

The small target that England was set allowed their skipper Alastair Cook to be the youngest to get to the 10000 run mark in Test cricket. With England playing 7 Tests at home and another five or six Test matches away every year he has a good chance of getting close to Tendulkar’s aggregate. The key of course is form and enthusiasm for the game like Sachin had right till the end. It won't be easy though especially since he is an opening bat and has to go to face the bowling when it is at it's sharpest and the pitch unknown.

David Warner led the Hyderabad team to a tremendous win in IPL 2016. His batting and captaincy were the highlights of the tournament and he had great support from Mustafizur and Bhubaneswar Kumar in bowling. The loss in the finals will be heartbreaking for Virat Kohli who almost single-handedly took them into the finals but he is not the kind who will mope over the defeat but will be even more hungrier now. That could well mean that the 1000 run mark will be breached sooner than later.

The IPL finals lived up to it's billing and the spectators got to see some excellent cricket with a nail biting finish too. The margin of victory was only 9 runs and the 11 wides conceded by Bangalore turned out to be their undoing. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

David Warner for his outstanding batting fielding and above all, his captaincy, is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Dwayne Smith

Immediately after the IPL ends the CEAT International Cricket Awards to honour performances throughout the year will be held in Mumbai and will bring the curtains down on what has been a riveting cricketing year. These awards are given to overseas players as well as India players.

Some overseas players have moved franchises so many times in the last several seasons that its tough to know where their loyalties lie. However being professional cricketers they go out and do the best they can. Dwayne Smith is an example of a player who has played in different colours over the years and has invariably won them games with either bat or ball. Smith is the kind of low profile player who is happy to stay under the radar but when needed come out with a stunning performance that will make those who let him go wonder why they did that. Most times of course it is because franchises can play only 4 players in the eleven and can have no more than 10 players in their squad.

He used the little grass and dew on the Green Park pitch in Kanpur to good effect to rattle the Kolkata team and then played a terrific innings down the order against the Bangalore team that gave their score some substance. On the Bangalore pitch his military medium didn’t work as AB de Villers realised that his bowling was the freedom sign that he was waiting for. The Gujarat team was unable to recover after that over and AB de Villers along with Iqbal Abdullah took the team to what at one stage looked like an impossible win.

What more can one write about AB de Villers that has not been written before. He and Virat Kohli have taken batting to another stratospheric level which is unreachable for other batsmen. When a batsman can hit the same delivery in front of the wicket and then behind the wicket, the skippers and coaches can do very little. That is what AB does and he seems to revel in making captains look stupid. While Dhoni plays the helicopter shot to yorkers, de Villers' bat makes the same whirling movement in the follow through. He has seldom been caught off balance and is able to react even if the ball is not where he anticipated it.

Manish Pandey is a fine young prospect. KKR made the mistake of dropping him down the order in their game against the Hyderabad team and promoting a left-hander Colin Munro when there was another left hander skipper Gambhir at the crease. Pandey has been in red hot form and when coaches ignore that and go with unproven potential then that is a recipe for disaster zone which is exactly where KKR found themselves.

Dwayne Smith for his outstanding all round deeds in the week is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

When Krunal Pandya was bought by the Mumbai Indians for the amount that was quite high, the general feeling among cricket followers was that the big amount was more to compensate for the fact that with younger brother Hardik Pandya being retained at the modest fee of the previous year, the big fee to Krunal would make up for the increase that Hardik couldn’t be given. What the elder Pandya has done this season is to be the impact player that the Mumbai Indians were looking for with both bat and ball. In the process he has also taken his brother’s spot in the team and is now an integral part of a team that is looking to defend its title. The Mumbai Indians scouts deserve to take a bow for spotting the elder Pandya despite the fact that with his injury he wasn’t at his best before the IPL season started. The younger Pandya also is a top prospect and needs patience shown towards him but for that he has to focus more on the cricket and not showmanship which is what gets him negative rather than positive vibes.

Look at the way Virat Kohli has transformed himself from being a showman to being a show stealer. True with television being such a prominent part of the game the temptation to look and be a bit different will always be there but thats where the good players will realise that at the end of the day its not how good you look on TV but how you perform that will decide on the longetivity in the game. Virat’s dedication towards the game is now legendary and there is no one today in the Indian team who works harder at the game than the Indian Test skipper. That is showing in how he has played these fabulous innings and stayed the distance in a most physically demanding format of the game. His commitment to the team's cause can be seen by the fact that despite having stitches in his left hand he not only batted but also fielded throughout the game. If only such commitment would be shown by others who at the slightest sign of pain are happy to return home since they are assured of getting their fees as the so-called injury has taken place in the middle of the tournament.

Virat Kohli with his incredible batting is the undisputed CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Shikhar Dhawan

Ever since Shikhar Dhawan's terrific Test debut where he became the fastest to a Test century on debut, the expectations have been sky high every time he walks out to bat. Fans expect him to score at a breakneck speed and get runs off every delivery. Cricket unfortunately is not as easy as it looks from the outside and bowlers, coaches and captains are always looking for ways and means to restrict the opposition. Dhawan's game would have been analysed threadbare after that innings and subsequently tactics thought of how to get him out cheaply. Sometimes these work, at other times they don't.

Shikhar's record in limited overs cricket has come in for some questioning. That happens because when he gets out cheaply he tends to do so in single digit scores and that attracts the critics who are quick to forget his overall record which is very impressive where he gets a half-century or more every 6 innings or so. This, by any stretch, is a very good achievement especially for an opening batsman who have to go in to bat when there is life in the pitch and the hard new ball is doing something that it stops doing after half a dozen overs or so. That's when the glamour boys come and smash the ball around but where would they be if the openers hadn't seen the new ball off?

Shane Watson is proving his price is worth it with some top performances with both bat and ball and his big hands aren't missing anything in the air either. His all-round performance is keeping the Bangalore team afloat in the tournament as it comes to the knockout stage. There is KL Rahul too who is getting better with the big mitts and showing that he has a wide range of powerful shots too. His terrific innings against Mumbai was not able to stop the Mumbai team from winning but showed that he possesses the shots for the ultra short format of the game.

Shikhar Dhawan for his consistent batting just pips Shane Watson to be the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Steve Smith

K. L Rahul didn’t score too many runs in his debut test match. However, when he had squared up to Mitchell Johnson he had got solidly behind the line of a short delivery and that was encouraging indeed. In the next test he got his first test century which was as impressive a way to make a statement that he had arrived. He has not been able to maintain his place in the team after that but is in the squad that travels with the team. Now that he has shown that he is pretty good behind the stumps as well, it will ease the selectors dilemma when they pick the test team to West Indies for they can now look at another specialist bowler or batsman instead of a second wicket keeper who generally ends up doing pretty little as the tests are squeezed back to back. In the IPL he started indifferently like in his debut test but is now playing some superb shots and easing the burden on skipper Kohli.

Andre Russell is doing exactly what he is expected to do. His electrifying batting, speedy bowling and spectacular fielding has ensured that the Kolkata team has held it’s own in away games too. Gautam Gambhir relies on him to make that impact with the bat and ball that can change the course of the game and the happy West Indian has delivered just about every time.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be a bit relieved that his team won in Delhi. He has lost the services of his top 4 overseas players and he will miss Steve Smith in particular since the Aussie skipper was batting so well and holding the innings together.

The Aussie skipper Steve smith is the CEAT International Cricketer of the week for his superlative batting with a century to boot.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Chris Morris

The IPL matches have started going down to the wire now as the tournament starts to get into top gear. As with any event there will be some easy games and some nail biters and the spectators are getting the edge of the seat thrillers that the T20 format dishes out. There have been some outstanding batting efforts too and we have seen some of the cleanest hitting that can be displayed on the cricket field. These are from some of the usual suspects like Rohit Sharma, ViratKohli, AB de Villers, Kieron Pollard and the occasional one from Mahendra SinghDhoni. Chris Gayle is still to unfurl his savagery but that can’t be too far away.

The new one to the gang of destroyers is Chris Morris the big South African who also bowls a mean heavy ball. His batting in the game against Gujarat Lions where he took the Delhi Daredevils to the brink of an impossible win was as clean as the teeth of someone who has a dental transplant. It was breathtaking too as he seemed to hit at will and his 82 off 32 deliveries must rank as possibly the best innings that has been seen in the tournament so far. There was also the century by Virat Kohli who can put no foot wrong in his current form. He drove,flicked, pulled and lofted the ball all over as only he can but found himself on the losing side as the Gujarat Lions kept their cool once again to emerge victorious.The Lions are making the good habit of spoiling the party of the century makers for they also did that to the Pune team whose Steve Smith got a hundred but ended up on the losing side.

Then there was Kieron Pollard who even while he perspired in the humidity ofMumbai seemed so relaxed as he smote the big ones to get to a fifty off only 17 deliveries and take Mumbai home easily.

All these batting displays were awesome to say the least and its Chris Morris,who also gets bowling and fielding points, who is the CEAT InternationalCricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Quinton de Kock

Quinton de Kock loves Indian bowling attacks. He smashes them at will and gets runs in just about every outing. Yes, the IPL is not only about Indian players but also about overseas players and there are many bowlers from other countries but it does not seem to make a difference to de Kock as he just goes on and on. The beauty about his batting is the simplicity that he brings to it. He plays conventional cricketing shots at the start of his innings while he gets used to the bowlers, the pitch, the bounce and turn and as he settles down he widens the arc of his shots and hits the ball all round the park. A lot of batsmen try as soon as they come in to bat to play across the line and perish quickly enough for it is never easy to do so even on the flattest of pitches. This time around there have been some magnificent pitches and that’s why there have been successful chases of good scores by the teams batting second.

David Warner is another batsman who has been in tremendous form and more importantly is leading from the front for his team which has now started to get a good rhythm and is looking good. Fatherhood as well as staying away from the amber liquid has mellowed him and made him a terrific leader too as can be seen in the way the team has responded to him. Matthew Hayden who demolished many an attack in his time, has predicted that Warner will go on to break all records as an opener. 'Haydos' is absolutely spot on, for the adapting that Warner has done to all formats of the game is terrific. Even as he breaks all records he will entertain the followers of the game and bring more people in through the turnstiles.

Quinton de Kock for his consistency with the bat as well as his catching with the gloves is this weeks CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - AB de Villiers

The Vivo IPL has started but not with the bang that the T20 format usually has. The first couple of games were pretty one sided and it then took the Bangalore team to show how its done despite losing the 'World Boss' Chris Gayle to one of those freak dismissals of the ball deflecting from the thigh pad onto the stumps. The Bangalore skipper along with AB de Villiers played some extraordinary shots to take their team to an imposing total. The finishing touch was given by young Sarfaraz Khan who played some of the cheekiest shots one can imagine as only a fresh faced teenager with no care in the world can do to bring huge smiles to the faces of not just the Bangalore supporters but cricket lovers.

Out of the two new teams the Gujarat team has won their first two games quite comfortably and look like a nice balanced team though in later games their bowling may get exposed a little. Aaron Finch who unfortunately damaged his Achilles' heel in the first game last season has begun this one well with a superb 74 against the Punjab team and then another half century against the Pune team.

Andre Russell also has started the season with some fine bowling and hitting and has helped the Kolkata team get on the points table.

Last year's wooden spooners Delhi and Punjab will hopefully have got on the score board by the time this is seen for they have been slow starters and sometimes its hard to catch up. Of course its early days and the teams will be looking at how Mumbai turned it around after a sluggish start last year to go on to win the championship.

With the matches being moved out of Maharashtra the home advantage will be lost to the two teams from the state but in this format its not much of a factor for things can change in a jiffy and in a matter of deliveries. The plus of asking the curator to make pitches to their strength might not be there but most teams are balanced so that also would not be a differentiating factor.

Its early days so teams have still not settled on a combination that works for them but it wont be long before they do and after that it will only be injury or rest that will change the combinations.

AB de Villiers for his fabulous batting and fielding is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Joe Root

Carlos Brathwaite's breathtaking hitting snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the West Indies at the Eden Gardens. When the over started the Windies needed 19 runs to win. Ben Stokes who had bowled his final overs in the earlier games quite superbly was given that last over. Four balls later it was over as Brathwaite struck 4 sixes to finish the game. Stokes was left wondering what had happened as he sat forlornly on his haunches. He will hardly be comforted by the knowledge that not many other bowlers in the world could have stopped that onslaught from Brathwaite. It was as clean a striking as any seen anywhere and even a miscue which leveled the scores went for a six. It tells you of the power of Brathwaite but it also brings back strongly the case for increasing the boundary size to much more than we have for the limited overs matches nowadays. Sure a bit of a buffer needs to be kept so that the fielder doesn't crash into metal when he slides and tries to stop the ball but if the bottom half of the boundary advertising boards are made of foam then the boundaries could be increased to allow the fielder to crash into the boards without any fear of serious injury.

Bowlers do need more protection especially now that the players are stronger so even a mishit can go for a six. They need to be allowed to bowl more than one bouncer per over and the definition of the wide for the ball that goes over the shoulders also needs to be looked at. It will never be a level playing field in limited overs cricket which is more about big hitting than anything else but not calling a ball a wide down the leg side if it has turned from the stumps is also something that needs to be looked at.

Not surprisingly bowlers seldom find themselves in the running for the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week which this week also goes to a batsman Joe Root for his top effort in the ICC World Twenty20 Finals and for the 2 wickets he took in the only over he bowled in that game.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

India are out of the ICC World Twenty 20 after a ferocious display of big hitting by the West Indian batsmen Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell. Despite losing Chris Gayle for only 5 in the second over of their innings the Windies batsmen did not falter as they smashed the Indian bowling to all parts of the Wankhede Stadium to enter the finals. What this display showed was that the Windies is not a one man team as most were making it out to be. When required there was more than one player prepared to put his hand up and take the team past the line.

It was overstepping the line that cost India plenty as first Ravichandran Ashwin and then Hardik Pandya bowled no-balls and thus lost out on getting Lendl Simmons out. Then later Ravindra Jadeja stepped on to the boundary advertising board as he caught Simmons and tossed the ball up for Virat Kohli to complete the catch. However since he had stepped on the boards, instead of a wicket it was six runs to Simmons. Bowling no-balls is part of the game but good teams try and minimise this breach especially in limited overs cricket because the penalty of a free hit off the next ball can be a six. Bowlers in fact practice bowling from well behind the popping crease so as to avoid bowling a no ball in limited overs cricket.

The other finalists will be England who have come back superbly after losing to the West Indies in their first game of the tournament. Their openers are getting the team off to a great start, their middle order is batting fluently and Jos Buttler is providing the killer finishing touch. Their death overs bowling also is terrific and they have a great balance in their attack.

Virat Kohli is in the form of his life and is middling the ball from the word go and this is reflected in his dominance over the bowlers in the tournament. Getting 30 runs is akin to getting a half century in the T20 format but Kohli has got more than that and his innings of 82 and 89 both not out puts him in a different league altogether.

For those outstanding innings he is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Quinton de Kock

By the time you read this at least one of the semi-final line-up for the ICC World Twenty Twenty would have been decided. The T20 format is such that it levels the competition and as was seen from the performance of Afghanistan that even an associate team can give the full member teams a run for their money.

Not too many bowlers enjoy the format as they are invariably on a hiding to nothing though India's Ravi Ashwin has been among the few bowlers who have won a man of the match award in this format more than once. On India's spinning pitches Ashwin and his partner Ravindra Jadeja have been terrific as they have made it hard for the opposition batsmen to counter them. On other pitches especially the one at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai the batsmen have enjoyed themselves as the ball has come through nicely and the true bounce has allowed them to play through the line without too much worry about deviation from the pitch.

Quinton de Kock and Joe Root batted superbly in Mumbai in the England v South Africa game which England won in the final over of the match. It was a high scoring game with both teams getting over 200 runs and it was Joe Root's brilliant batting that gave England the push and the momentum to carve out a terrific win. Quinton de Kock earlier had scored a superb half-century. Martin Guptil who was surprisingly not picked by any franchise for the IPL has also been in great touch. He started the main tournament off with a six off the first ball with as straight a bat as one would love to see and he then followed up with a 48 ball 80 to get New Zealand to a good score against Pakistan.

However it is Quinton de Kock, who apart from the half-century also had 6 dismissals as the wicket keeper, who is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Chris Gayle

England's spirited chase of South Africa's huge total has enlivened the ICC World T20. What it has also done is ensured that the group remains open and qualification for the semi finals will be fought till the final game of the league stage. Even as one admires the superb stroke play of the batsmen one does feel sorry for great bowlers like Dale Steyn who are on a hiding to nothing especially if the pitch is as good as it was at the Wankhede Stadium.

The last time the Proteas played at the Wankhede Stadium they posted a humongous score of over 400 against India with three players getting to centuries. This time too it looked as if the score they had put up would be hard to surpass till England came out blazing with their openers getting the team off to a vertical take off. It was thrilling to watch also because while there were the usual scoops and reverse sweeps what was more successful were the old fashioned cricket shots played with a straight bat but with power and timing that went into the stands.

Since the last summer England have invariably taken up the gauntlet thrown by the opposition and matched them stroke for stroke and have thus won more matches when they were chasing. They certainly seemed to have learnt from the Kiwis last summer and here they picked from Chris Gayle how to make a chase look simple.

Gayle's assault on the England bowlers in their previous game was something else. Like he does in the IPL he bided his time for a few overs and then unleashed his surface to air missiles. He got to a hundred in no time and made the tough target look easy.

There were two other senior players who also shone and took their teams to wins. Shahid Afridi played a lovely cameo as well as took wickets to take Pakistan to a huge win and Tillakaratne Dilshan also played superbly to get Sri Lanka home.

However it is the World T20 boss Chris Gayle who for his century is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Faf du Plessis

The ICC World T20 starts in earnest in a couple of days and it promises to be an exciting event. There is no team that can be considered the firm favourites even though Indian followers would like to think that their team is the leading contender to win the trophy. Recent form does show that the Indian team has played outstanding cricket in this format and the win in the Asia Cup where they beat all their opponents comprehensively means that the players will be confident. Even as the Indian skipper suggested that his team is in sixth gear he cautioned against thinking that just because it is a home event the Indians will win the cup. The way the Australians have bounced back after losing the first of the three game series against South Africa is a warning sign to the others that they are looking to win the one trophy that has eluded them so far.

David Warner batting down the order has taken to the spot like a duck takes to water and his splendid hitting took the Aussies home in the chase in the final two games. He was helped by skipper Steve Smith and Glen Maxwell as they chased down tough targets in both those wins.

Hashim Amla like Rahul Dravid before him was not thought of as a T20 batsman but like Dravid proved if you have the ability to hit the boundaries regularly and find the gaps then it doesn't really matter if you can hit the big sixes or not. Amla’s blistering batting is what gave the Proteas the big score in the final game though it wasn’t enough in the end as the Aussies clinically went past it.

South Africa will be pleased with it’s batting form for just about everybody has got runs but it’s the bowling which is the worry. The modern thinking that bowling low full tosses is effective has so far not been proven right. On the contrary if you bowl those at the friendly medium pace that the Proteas bowled those deliveries went out of the park quicker than they were delivered. That said the games were highly entertaining as the T20 format usually is.

South Africa’s T20 skipper Faf du Plessis for his batting and catching in the final two games is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Mahmudullah

Scheduling is an important aspect of preparation for the season and much depends on how the authorities arrange the fixtures of the different formats in the game. India's first class season is just about coming to an end with the Ranji Trophy, the national championship being won by Mumbai for the 41st time. After being run close for the first two days by Saurashtra, the Mumbai boys came bouncing back and just railroaded the opposition on day three and ended up winning by an innings before the end of the day. The Irani Trophy will be in progress as you read this which will signal the end to the first class season. This season there was a gap between the group stage games and the knockout stage of the Ranji trophy to accommodate the limited overs competitions. Teams can lose rhythm when there is a gap as large as the one that was seen this time. With two big T20 competitions coming up in February and March it would have been better if the domestic T20 competitions were played just before so as to give the selectors a good idea of the form of some of the players and also have them in match trim for the Asia Cup and the World Cup.

Be that as it may the Indian team has a nice balance to it and is looking good with a mixture of youth and experience. Their performances also reflect that with the experience coming to the rescue after the youth has given them the impetus in the bowling.

Virat Kohli has been outstanding and has played classy and matured innings to take India home after the loss of early wickets. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have not quite got their team off to the usual good start but its a combo that has done well over the last season or so and is a reliable one indeed.

Hosts Bangladesh have also played remarkably well and will be looking to win their first Asia Cup, they have some good all-rounders who can make such a difference to the team as they give the skipper options to move batsmen up and down the order and use bowlers according to the situation.

Mahmudullah has been one of Bangladesh's promising players with both bat and ball and his performances especially under pressure have been tremendously inspiring to the others in the team.

For his all round deeds in the Asia Cup Mahmudullah is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Joe Burns

Australia climbed to the number one ranking displacing India and since there are no more test matches to be played before the ICC ranking year ends, they will also get the champions mace during the ICC World T20 event in India. That match also was the last one for Brendon McCullum and he went out in a blaze of glory cracking the fastest test century in just 54 balls eclipsing Viv Richards and Misbah-ul-haq who had got theirs in 56 balls. McCullum played in the only way he knows and that is by taking the attack to the opposition. He was dancing down the pitch to the new ball bowlers, slashing them over cover or third man or lofting them into the stands at long off and deep mid-wicket. It was incredible stuff and would have been a feast for all those who turned up at the ground to bid him farewell on a terrific career for New Zealand. McCullum had a stroke of luck when he was out to a Hazlewood delivery but unfortunately for the Aussies and fortunately for the Kiwis and those who had come to watch, that delivery was called a no ball on referral to the third umpire. There was no stopping McCullum after that as he laid into the bowlers and hit them to all corners of the Hagley park oval.

That third umpire referral must have rankled Hazlewood; for in the second innings when he thought he had the excellent Kane Williamson out leg before wicket only for the third umpire to rule it not out when he noticed the hot spot at the bottom of Williamson’s bat, the bowler simply lost it. Hazlewood’s angry retort and Steve Smith’s intervention with the umpire meant that they were summoned to the match referees room and subsequently fined 15% and 30% of their fees respectively. Their exchange with the umpire was heard around the world as the stump mikes were on and typically that was used as an excuse rather than the fact that the language used was appalling to say the least. The other question to be asked is whether the same kind of confrontation would have taken place if the umpire was not from the sub-continent. Those fines which are nothing but a slap on the wrist perhaps explains why players indulge in all this drama. They know they can get away with it. Both of them should have lost their match fees and been on probation for the next five test matches at least; for nothing short of suspending players and making them miss test or one day internationals will help solve the problem. Smith has been a man enough to accept that he crossed the line and that is heartening to note.

He along with Joe Burns for their excellent batting in the test are the joint winners of the accolade of the Ceat international cricketer of the week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Adam Voges

India's impressive comeback after the surprise loss in the 1st T20 game against the young Sri Lankan side does indicate that they will be the team to watch out for in the forthcoming Asia Cup as well as the ICC World T20 events. Both events are going to be played in the Indian subcontinent and so the familiarity of the conditions will make the subcontinent teams dangerous to those coming from outside. As the young Lankan team showed, on a given day any team can score over the other and so nothing can be said with any certainty other than it will be an exciting few weeks full of fireworks. Then it will be the Indian Premier League and hopefully the fireworks will be restricted to the field and valuable funds not wasted on an opening ceremony which does precious little to enhance an already sparkling tournament. Those funds can be better utilized and distributed to the state units for getting equipment to dry up and cover the entire ground so that no playing time is affected as happened in the series against South Africa. Medical equipment that helps faster recovery from injuries should also be a priority. India have lost Mohammed Shami to an injury and maybe if he had been under one of the fast recovery machines he would have been fit for the Asia Cup. The song and dance shows are dime a dozen on TV so there is really no need to splurge cricketing funds on them.

What is heartening is to see that the two new franchises have gone for former Indian cricketers as assistant coaches. It is a great move as both Sitanshu Kotak and Hrishikesh Kanitkar know more about the pitches and conditions in their cities better than an outsider and will thus be able to give valuable inputs to the chief coach and skippers of their teams. One of the teams is also reported to be going for an assistant coach who has made a speciality of helping franchises to hold up the bottom two places so hopefully he will not bring that bad luck to them too.

On the field Adam Voges proved once again that age is just a number as he cracked a brilliant double hundred and with Usman Khawaja continuing his tremendous form the Aussies ran away with an easy win over their Trans-Tasman rivals in the first Test.

South Africa made a terrific comeback to win the last three ODIs to win the series against England.

It is Adam Voges for his superb double hundred who is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Joe Root

The New Zealanders gave their retiring skipper Brendon McCullum a great gift by winning the three match one day series 2-1. McCullum is now engaged in playing the two-match Test series after which he will have finished with the international game. The sport will be the poorer for his retirement for there is no doubt that at 34 years he still had a few years left in the game but perhaps his fragile back was not up to the load of international cricket so McCullum will now only be playing the T20 leagues all round the world and for that the cricket lovers will be thankful for he is an entertainer par excellence. More than the cricket that he played what McCullum stands out for me was for the decision that he and his team took after the sad death of Phillip Hughes to play the game in the right spirit and stay away from the obnoxious practice of sledging. Sure international cricket is a pressure heavy game and sometimes feelings get out of hand but the Kiwis have shown enormous control and have not given vent to their frustrations and for that cricket will be ever thankful to McCullum's leadership.

Hopefully the Kiwis will give him a Test victory too but it is never easy against 'big brother' Australia who seem to have too many guns going for them.

What the Kiwis did last year was give England the direction to take in limited overs cricket and how that has transformed English attitudes and approach to the limited overs format. The English are now serious contenders for limited overs trophies with the way they are going after the bowling and the depth and options they have in their bowling does restrict the opposition considerably. That may not quite have happened in the third one day game where Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla scored great hundreds to help South Africa overhaul an imposing total by England and in doing so keep the one day series alive. Joe Root had scored a top hundred with Ben Stokes playing another whirlwind innings. England piled up over 300 runs but the calm collected manner in which both de Kock and Amla went about the chase was terrific to watch too. De Kock has become the fastest to get to 10 hundreds in limited overs cricket overtaking his partner Amla in the process and in doing so both have displayed that you don't have to hit the big sixes to get the big scores.

Hashim Amla and Joe Root for their brillaint hundreds share the accolade for the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Martin Guptill

The India-Australia one day and T20 series and the first games of the New Zealand-Australia and the South Africa-England one day series have turned into run fests with the bat totally dominating the ball and nobody seems to be complaining. But turn it the other way around where the ball is on top and the whole jing bang world will come down on the curators for making pitches where the ball does this and that. Frankly unless a pitch is dangerous for life and limb there should be no issues whatsoever and the game should simply carry on. Having said that it has also got to be taken into account that TV rights holders, sponsors have sunk a lot of money into getting full value for their investments and so expect that the game should go the distance and not finish much earlier than anticipated.

So while the bat has dominated one young bower decided to make headlines with his act. Playing in the ICC under 19 tournament, West Indian bowler Keemo Paul whipped the bails off when he saw that the non striker Richard Ngarava was out of his crease. With that dismissal West Indies won the game and qualified for the quarter finals of the event.

Typically the reactions that came through from 'non walkers' and 'appealers' even when they know they haven't taken a clean catch, was that it was unsporting. Ha! As if their staying at the wicket when they know they have hit the ball or appealing when they know they have not caught the ball cleanly or appealing for leg before wicket when they know the batsman has edged the ball is sporting. Remember the coach of the Australian team berating Stuart Broad for staying at the crease when he was caught at slip and suggesting that while it was ok to stay for a catch to the keeper it was not ok to do so if the catch was taken at slip?

Rules are rules and if the batsman was looking to sneak a single by getting out of his crease then he deserved to be run out. Simple as that. And in today's world when the emphasis is on winning and nothing else it is hypocritical to call it unsporting.

What is even more galling is to hear it being referred to as 'Mankading' thereby tarnishing the name of one of India's greatest cricketers. Sure the great Vinoo Mankad may have been the first to do it at the international level but he did it after warning the non striker, Bill Brown twice and only when Brown refused to listen then he ran him out. Even Sir Don Bradman who was then captain of the Australian team found nothing wrong with it and blamed his batsman squarely for it. So here is hoping that at least Indian media and cricket lovers will start calling such a dismissal as being 'Browned' rather than 'Mankaded' simply because Brown was at fault and not Mankad.

Martin Guptill who is in tremendous form and also fielding and catching brilliantly is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Kagiso Rabada

As happens to most teams once the series is decided the intensity for the remaining games does drop a fraction even though the players who are on the fringe will try their hardest to show that they belong to the international level. So despite their coach asking for the same intensity to be shown in the final Test match some England players did appear as if they were looking to get back home early and the home team capitalising on that won a consolation victory that made the final series score look reasonable. Even the great Australian teams of the 90s and early decade of this century were not immune form this syndrome of taking it easy once they had won the series. The exception was the West Indies teams of the 1970s to early 90s who were intent on winning all games and so invariably would make clean sweeps of the series.

When Kagiso Rabada made his debut in the first one day international at Kanpur it was clear that a star had arrived on the international scene. It was not just the raw pace that he had but the manner in which he bowled the final over to the best finisher in the game Mahendra Singh Dhoni that made the world sit up and take notice. The problem for non white players who get selected for South Africa is that there is always the big question mark whether he has been selected as part of the quota that mandated at least 4 coloured players to be selected for the team. That mandate, written or unwritten may not be there now but every coloured player who gets selected plays under the shadow of that doubt and so has a double burden to prove that he belongs to the arena.

Rabada took 13 wickets on a pitch that did not have the usual bounce so it was a truly remarkable performance from a player in his first season. Not just him but young Bavuma also batted well in the series to show that he was there on merit and nothing else.

Hashim Amla, free of the captaincy responsibilities scored yet another hundred and missed a century in each innings by a few runs. On the other hand the responsibility of captaining the country in Test cricket seems to be a bit heavy on AB de Villiers, who got a pair in the Test match and another duck too in the next game.

Meanwhile in Australia, Manish Pandey and Jasprit Bumrah made waves as they emphatically showed that they will be players to watch out for as India look to climb the rankings in limited overs cricket.

Kagiso Rabada for his outstanding bowling that won the Test match for South Africa is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Virat Kohli

Those Indian supporters of South Africa who refused to give credit to the Indian spinners but instead harped on the kind of pitches that were given for the four Test match series in India will now be wondering what excuses to offer for the Proteas defeat in the Test series against England. Even on their home pitches the South African batting line up failed in the first Test and then again in the third Test where they collapsed in the second innings for a paltry 83 runs to lose the game and with it the Test series and the number one ranking that they held for quite some time.

What these displays showed is that even on pitches where the ball was coming straight and at good pace and bounce the Proteas just did not have the batting skills to stay at the crease and get some runs. No wonder when the ball spun a bit they were totally at sea and with no life jackets either. With their bowling spearhead Dale Steyn rendered hors de combat with a shoulder injury they didn't even have the firepower to put pressure on the English batsmen. There is still one Test to go to salvage some pride for the Proteas and it will be interesting to see whether they grab the opportunity.

The Indians failed to grasp the chance that Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli had given them while chasing Australia's score in the 4th one day international and now there is a real possibility that they will be whitewashed in the one day series.

Shikhar Dhawan was under pressure to perform after having not notched up big scores in the first two games but he came back fighting in the third game with a half century and then gaining confidence from that innings smashed a brilliant century in the fourth game and in doing so became the fastest Indian to reach 3000 runs in one day cricket. With 9 centuries as well as several fifties in just 73 matches his record is superb but still he has to fail in a couple of games and the ignoramuses question his place in the team.

Nobody dare question Virat Kohli's batting ability as he played one of the finest one day innings seen in getting to his 25th century and also reaching 7000 runs faster than anybody else in the world. The way he toyed with the Australian bowling was a joy to watch but unfortunately the injury to Rahane meant an in form batsman couldn't come in and finish what Dhawan and Kohli had set up.

Virat Kohli for his incredible sequence of scores is the undisputed CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Rohit Sharma

Cricket is a great leveller. Any player who starts to think that he is going to be infallible will get his comeuppance very soon indeed. Any player who thinks he is not a student of the sport but it’s master is going to find out that he has plenty to learn in this game. Learning fast is the key to get better but however much one learns the fact is that there can never be a perfect cricketer. There never was one and there will never be another in the future too.

India’s bowlers who had such a terrific time at home against the South Africans are finding the going tough on the beautiful batting pitches in Australia while the batsmen who struggled on the same pitches in India are scoring freely in conditions where there is no swing seam or spin. Rohit Sharma had a tough time in the series against the South Africans in India. He likes the ball to come on to the bat but that didn’t quite happen in India and he fretted till he lost patience and got out looking to break free. In Australia the ball is coming nicely off the pitch, the bounce is even and Sharma is revelling in the conditions and showing why he is such a devastating batsman in limited overs cricket. The most impressive thing is his willingness to carry on and not be satisfied with getting to a century. That has helped India get to more than 300 runs in both the one- day internationals that India has played so far.

Unfortunately the pitches being so good means that Australia’s batsmen are also enjoying themselves and have chased down the 300 plus totals quite comfortably in winning both the games. Steve Smith scored four Test hundreds against India last year and he has continued the same form and the Indians are finding it difficult to stop him this time around too. The Australian batting line-up looks extremely good and India’s bowlers apart from Ashwin look one dimensional and are thus easy fodder for the Australian batsmen.

The two vice-captains are also batting well and scoring freely so runs are aplenty and there is huge entertainment for the crowds with over 600 runs being scored in a day in both games.

Rohit Sharma for his brilliant effort of 171 not out is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ben Stokes

Hashim Amla's stepping down from the captaincy of the South African Test team did not really come as a surprise. After the big loss to India and then a defeat in the first Test against the visiting England team there was huge pressure on him from the old powers in the South African establishment and media to make way and give AB de Villiers the reins of the captaincy. In fact when Amla was first appointed to succeed Graeme Smith there was surprise that de Villiers had not got the job since the old powers did not fancy anybody other than their ilk to captain South Africa.

Captaincy is not simply about going out to toss and then change the bowling and field placing or the batting order but its much more. It is about being accessible to people other than the team, meeting sponsors and media, being a diplomat, a shoulder to cry on for those not in form and thinking about the other members in the team even when one's own form is poor. Amla clearly wasn't cut out for all that and has acknowledged as such by saying in his retirement that he felt he was better use to South Africa as a senior experienced batsman. He went out on a personal high of a double century and now its up to AB de Villiers to turn things around and look to get a series win that will ensure they stay atop the Test rankings. He has the opportunity to change Proteas cricket like Brendon McCullum did so wonderfully for New Zealand by not just playing attractive cricket but also by their demeanor on the field that made them a popular team with spectators especially parents whose children are looking to play cricket and want them to learn the nuances of the game rather than new abuses. If de Villiers can do that successfully he will have contributed more to the game than he has with the bat.

Ben Stokes is yet another all rounder who was hailed as the new Ian Botham when he came on to the scene. While there will never be another Botham as many before him have found out, Stokes' display in the new year Test at Capetown was dazzling indeed. He has always been an unorthodox batsman not afraid to go for the big shots and has often perished in the attempt . At the Wanderers in Capetown he connected just about everything and his dazzling double century, the second fastest in the history of the game was something to behold.

By the way with more than 1250 runs scored with just 13 wickets falling did anybody complain about the one sided pitch? Of course not, it was not an Indian pitch was it?

Ben Stokes for his wonderful 258 is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Usman Khawaja

England's thrashing of South Africa in the Durban Test match once again reemphasizes what was seen on the Proteas recent tour of India that their batting is well short of international class. On their own home ground in conditions familiar to them they were bundled out by the pace and swing of Stuart Broad and Steve Finn and the spin of Moeen Ali. What it proves is that this team depends so much on Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers to click and get big scores that when they fail they have really nobody who can defy the opposition bowling. Yes Dean Elgar got a hundred and batted well in the second innings too. Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy disappointed once again so the burden was on Amla and de Villiers and once they fell England's bowlers had their own way.

Australia had done the smart thing by sending their a team to play a tri-series in India and more importantly picked players who had played for Australia but were not regulars. They were however in the selectors sights and so were given the a tour to strengthen their claims for inclusion in the Test team. With the retirements of Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson it was clear that there were places up for grabs and a good performance in the a series was going to make a difference. Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns were the successful opening duo in the series and their good form was recognised and they were picked for the Test team. They have both been batting splendidly while Steve Smith is showing that he is the new run machine as continues to churn up century after century. David Warner has had one of his rare failures with Khawaja, Burns, Smith and Voges smashing hundreds the West Indians were thoroughly swamped.

Now they would want to save embarrassment by doing well in the Sydney Test but the Australians would want a series whitewash for all the past ignominies heaped on them by that champion West Indies team of the 1970s and 80s. It is really sad to see how low the West Indians have fallen and if anything their batting is even more ordinary than the South Africans. Their bowling also just can't buy a wicket and whatever wickets they are getting is mainly due to overconfidence on the part of the Australian batsmen rather than any special delivery bowled by them.

Usman Khawaja and Aussie skipper Steve Smith for their magnificent batting are the joint winners of the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Dushmantha Chameera

The ICC has sent BCCI a warning for the quality of the Nagpur Test match pitch. The BCCI reply to the earlier notice is not in the public domain which is a bit surprising since just about everything else seems to be out for the public to see. The ICC inspection committee did discuss the BCCI reply after which they sent the warning and the BCCI has sportingly accepted it and has decided to move on. The ICC match referee is the one who sends the first report and while the eminently likeable Jeff Crowe sent the 'poor' report about the Nagpur pitch, the wicket at Adelaide where a Test was being played around the same time and where also the game finished in less than three days with prodigious seam movement and bounce even on the third day wasn't reported at all. Nor was the just concluded second Test match pitch at Hamilton in New Zealand reported despite the match being a low scoring game that finished before lunch on the fourth day. Before the Hamilton Test match started the Sri Lankan manager did feel that the pitch was doctored for it was very hard to distinguish between the pitch and the rest of the ground so much grass had been left on the pitch.

Now why does that happen where a pitch in India gets reported but not in Australia and New Zealand? The answer is simple. India's domination of world cricket is resented by the rest of the cricketing world and so any opportunity to beat the BCCI with is greedily taken. The other aspect is who is the match referee at other venues. The Indian and Sri Lankan match referees are the kind who will want to avoid a controversy and would much rather let things lie even though they have the evidence before their eyes. Filing an adverse report involves a little more work and rather than get involved in all that they prefer to look the other way. There is also the worry that if they give an adverse report against the old powers they will get clobbered in the local media and may even lose their jobs or get less assignments. Despite the so called BCCI clout it is still the old powers that are the real bosses thanks to the all round support that they get.

On a pitch that was tough to bat on young Kane Williamson scored a magnificent century to take the Kiwis home and win the series 2-0. Sri Lanka's pacer Chameera picked 9 wickets in the match but he had little support especially in the second innings and so ended up on the losing side.

For his outstanding bowling Chameera just pips Williamson to be the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Adam Voges

What a fall for the West Indies. The team that terrorised the cricketing world in the 1970s and 80s are now cannon fodder for just about every other Test nation in the game. Never has a team seen such a vertical slide down as the West Indies has done and for those who have seen them in their pomp it is a sad sight. There are of course some who would relish their plight considering what a tough time they gave their opponents in those halcyon years of theirs. Be that as it may, because that champion team also won with attacking cricket but no verbal aggression at all it is a much loved team and those players are popular wherever they go.

Those living in the Caribbean isles will point out the many reasons that have led to such a situation but whatever those reasons are the simple fact is that the current team barring the odd player is simply not international class and so unable to compete despite the best of intentions. They have a young skipper who surely cannot be enjoying going in first at the presentation ceremony and trying to explain yet again why his team has played in the manner that it did. He also did not help matters by suggesting before the first Test started that after the first three batsmen, Australia is a bit vulnerable for as the Test match showed it was precisely those later batsmen who scored the bulk of the runs. Jason Holder thought that he would pressurise Shaun Marsh by suggesting that his place was on the line. Marsh responded with a big hundred and his partnership with Adam Voges of over 400 runs buried the West Indies team. The Windies in both innings were unable to get close to the runs that Voges and Marsh put on together.

Adam Voges is not exactly a spring chicken and if he had been in India he would never have made his Test debut at the age that he did earlier in the year in the West Indies. He got a century on debut and in the first Test showed his relish for the West Indian bowling by hitting a massive 269 off only 285 deliveries faced. At 37 years he does not have many years left in international cricket and is making the most of it. He is one of the few who survived the fall out of the defeat in the Ashes series in England a few months back.

For his magnificent double hundred Adam Voges is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ajinkya Rahane

India defeating the number one ranked Test team in the world by the handsome margin of 3-0 tells of the total domination the hosts had over the visitors. South Africa suffered a huge blow when their number one bowler Dale Steyn got injured and couldn't participate after the first Test. They also lost Vernon Philander who had gifted Shikhar Dhawan a pair in the first Test match and he went home before the second Test. Those were big setbacks and it left Morne Morkel as the only recognised top bowler in their team. Their faith in Simon Harmer also was hard to understand after seeing the manner in which Dane Piedt bowled in the final Test. He would have made a big difference in the Nagpur Test match with the pace and accuracy that he showed.

It was quite similar to Ravindra Jadeja who made a superb comeback to the Indian team getting 23 wickets and also scoring runs when India needed them badly. His spin partner Ravi Ashwin finished with 31 wickets and the Man of the Series award for the fifth time. He bamboozled the Proteas with his flight and turn and like Jadeja, batted well down the order. India's lower orders contribution with the bat was also the difference between the two teams.

The batting of both teams was generally disappointing till the final Test when Kohli and Rahane showed their class. Rahane had made an utterly forgettable debut at the same venue two years earlier and he came into this Test match with an aggregate of less than 50. At the Kotla he took his time, played close to his body did not reach out for the ball and got hundreds in both innings. He also caught brilliantly and has given India a big plus with his slip catching.

South Africa will have to look at their batting which apart from de Villiers cut a sorry figure at the crease. No wonder Graeme Smith who retired less than two years back is contemplating a comeback to the team.

Ajinkya Rahane for his twin centuries is the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

CEAT Cricketer of the Week - Ravichandran Ashwin

The ICC has asked the BCCI for an explanation after the pitch on which the third Test at Nagpur was played was reported as being poor by the match referee. The Nagpur game ended towards the end of the last session of day three. Around the same time the first ever day-night Test match was being played in Adelaide, South Australia. That Test also coincidentally ended in the final session of day three. 40 wickets had fallen in Nagpur and 37 at Adelaide but only Nagpur pitch has been reported.

The reasoning seems to be that the ball turned from day one in Nagpur but that as those who have followed Indian cricket will know happens on most if not all pitches in India. If the thinking is that on day one the pitch should be seamer friend